Aleksenko, Dangol dominate Micronesian meet

Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan’s Isaiah Aleksenko, left, and Ashley Dangol pose with the medals and awards they won in the the Inaugural Micronesian Swimming Championships held in Palau early this month. (Contributed Photo)

Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan members Isaiah Aleksenko and Ashley Dangol have the medals to prove their dominance in the Inaugural Micronesian Swimming Championships.

Aleksenko earned 13 gold medals and Dangol had 12, as the two swimmers earned the most golds in the entire tournament, including the star division (over 13 age group) participants. The Tsunami Saipan bets raced in the future division (U12 age group) and lorded it over against their teammates, fellow CNMI swimmers, and the representatives of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Pohnpei to win the most outstanding athlete award in their category.

Dangol triumphed in all 12 events she competed in, starting off with the 400m freestyle swim (4:57.76). Her other races were 100m butterfly (1:11.31), 100m individual medley (1:14.07), 50m backstroke (31.66 seconds), 50m butterfly (31.40 seconds), 100m backstroke (1:10.51), 50m freestyle (29.07 seconds), open water swim (1K course/15:36), 200m and 400m medley relays, and 200m and 400m freestyle relays.

Aleksenko was also part of the relay team that won the four gold medals and ruled nine individual events: ocean swim (1K/15:24), 400m freestyle (4:37.72), 50m breaststroke (36.30 seconds), 100m butterfly (1:08.63), 100m IM (1:11.41), 100m freestyle (1:01.43), 200m breaststroke (2:54.97), 200m IM (2:32.48), and 50m freestyle (27.76 seconds).

Both Aleksenko and Dangol were thankful for the opportunity to finally race in an appropriate venue (National Swimming Pool in Koror, Palau) after losing the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi late last year.

“Swimming in a race with an actual diving block was super exciting. Seeing that we didn’t practice in a competition pool, I was overjoyed to receive the MVP award. In the end, I’m happy that our team did really well. I’m super thankful to have our team, the PIC (Pacific Islands Club Saipan) pool, and our coach’s dedication to keep this team going,” said the 12-year-old Dangol.

“It was hard to practice after the Marpi pool closed. I’ve been practicing extra hard for future competitions like this one and I’m very thankful to my coach and Ms.Yuko (Kimura), my mom (Yulia), and my teammates for motivating me. Also, I’m very thankful for this opportunity to represent the CNMI,” Aleksenko said.

Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura was not surprised to see Aleksenko and Dangol dominate the competition in Palau because they’ve been to other high-level tournaments and also performed well. Kimura added in next year’s Micronesian Swimming Championships, the two outstanding swimmers will move up to the star division and he encourages them to do well in the higher age group, too.