SSC continues to make splash in Arafura

In the second day of activities in the 2005 Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, the Saipan Swim Club continued to make progress by posting some respectable times in the morning session of the preliminary rounds

Entering their second day of competition, Amanda Johnson, Myana Welch, Nina Mosley, Natasha Good, Michael Camacho, Cooper Graf, and Ben Babauta have been busy swimming their hearts out for the Commonwealth, the Saipan Swim Club, and themselves.

Johnson managed to finish ninth in the 200m breaststroke out of a field of 12 swimmers with combined times of 3:20.24 and 3:17.75, while second-time Arafura competitor Welch suffered a disappointing disqualification her second heat after posting a time of 3:10.24 in the first.

The duo is learning a lot from some of the international competitors, as Australia’s Kia King of the Northern Territory took the fastest time in the second heat at 2:52.87, which was still slower than the 2:51.52 posted in the first heat by current third-place holder Rachel Hare of New Zealand.

Johnson later had a better showing in the girls’ 13-14 100m freestyle by grabbing the 13th spot in the standings with times of 1:09.50 and 1:10.65 in the field of 25 swimmers, and managed to finish 10th out of the 19 swimmer pack in the girls’ 13-14 50m butterfly with times of 34.48 and 33.68.

Sixteen-year-old Good landed a spot in the top 10 in the girls’ 15-16 200m individual medley with times of 3:13.42 and 3:10.99 in her first heats, but the Aussies are dominating this event as well—occupying the top six positions in the standings. Good currently sits in 10th place in the girls’ 400m freestyle as well, with times of 5:46.47 and 6:06.38.

Mosley continued her strong showing in the games by placing third in the prelims of the girls’ 15-16 50m freestyle with sub-30 times of 28.59 and 29.56, while her teammates experienced solid finishes. Mosley also did well in the longer events as well by taking fourth in the girls’ 400m freestyle with times of 4:53.03 and 5:03.90

Her third place finishes were bested only by her second place finish in the girls 15-16 50m breaststroke. The seasoned swimmer was bested by only .29 seconds by Rachel Lannen of Guam, and looked impressive with her times of 38.56 and 37.94.

Welch posted times of 40.36 and 41.21 to secure eighth place in the same event, and grabbed 10th in the girls 15-16 50m freestyle with times of 30.34 and 31.52, while Good took 20th place by rocketing down the lanes with times of 32.90 and 34.96, but they weren’t strong enough to best first place Australian Lisa Eadie who recorded times of 28.85 and 28.87.

While Mosley has had the bulk of the success for the girls, Camacho has had the fastest finishes for the boys.

In the boys 13-14 100m freestyle, 14-year-old Camacho finished 13th with times of 1:06.70 and 1:06.24 in the 26 swimmer field, while the hard working13-year-old Babauta finished 26th with times of 1:18.40 and 1:18.23. Though the local swimmers were unable to finish in the top third of the competition, 13-year-old Christopher Duenas of Guam took the top spot with the only sub-minute times 58.68 and 59.74.

Camacho had a much better showing in the boys’ 13-14 100m backstroke to hold onto fourth place in the standings with times of 1:12.23 and 1:12.20 in the 19 swimmer morning session

Graf got his second days’ worth of action in boys’ 12-and-under 100m backstroke by finishing in ninth place the with times of 1:47.06 in the first and 1:37.24 in the second, but the youngster got a first hand account of the Australian dominance of the games as 12-year-old Zac Dalby of the Northern Territory posted times of 1:14.80 and 1:16.20 in his first two attempts.

The intrepid Graf spread his wings for the boys’ 12-and-under 50m butterfly as well, and finished in ninth place again with times of 46.12 and 43.90. The competition that the youngster was hoping to catch a glimpse in the Arafura Games was running full throttle, as 12-year-old Ken Barcinas of Guam leads the pack of nine with times of 30.00 and 30.69.

Graf and Babauta finished in positions 11 and 12 in the boys’ 400m freestyle. Graf recorded times of 5:50.53 and 5:49.77, while Babauta posted times of 6:08.76 and 6:04.85, and landed 22nd out of the 24 participants in the boys’ 13-14 50m butterfly with improving finishes of 46.45 and 43.99.