PNG athletes are favored in sprints

Three swimmers and one from athletics were named Athletes of the Month for May by the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association during its meeting last Thursday at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Winning the May Male Athlete of the Month was Rezne Wong of Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan after the 17-year-old Marianas High School student shattered a national and an age group record in last month’s 2008 Guam Swimming Championships held in the Hagatna Pool.

Wong won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke but more importantly the 1:10:91 he took to complete the event shattered the CNMI national record of 1:11.69 set in 1989 by Brent Thompson.

Wong’s 100m breaststroke was also a new age group record, as it thumped the 1:11.70 recorded by Justin Pierce in the same event back in 1999

The May Athlete of the Month award is also Wong’s third for the year after also winning in February and April this year.

Wong’s teammate Kensuke Kimura, for his part, won the May Male Student Athlete of the Month after breaking the 11-12 age group record in the 200m breaststroke during the 2008 Guam Swimming Championships.

The 3:04 he took to finish the event broke Keoni Ichihara’s previous record of 3:04.84, which he set way back in 1996.

Saipan Swim Club’s Grace Kimball, meanwhile, won the May Female Student Athlete of the Month after she won eight medals in last month’s 2008 Guam Swimming Championships.

Kimball took home silver medals in 50m, 100m, 200m, 800m, and 1,500m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke, and a bronze in the 400m freestyle.

The lone honoree not coming from swimming for May is Northern Marianas Athletics’ Yvonne Bennett.

The Kagman High School student got the nod for Female Athlete of the Month after winning four gold medals in the 2008 McDonald’s All Schools Championship held last month at the Oleai Track and Field.

She won the 100m sprint in 13.04, crossed the finish line ahead of the pack in the 200m with a time of 26.94, and then reset her own record in the 400m by checking in at 1:03:50. Bennett then anchored her team in the 4x100m relay en route to the gold medal.

Other athletes nominated for the May plums were Li’amwar Rangamr, Brandon Phillip, and Jesus Iguel, all of NMA.