Wong posts new personal best time

Rezne Wong set a new personal best time in the 100m butterfly race Saturday and Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan completed its campaign in the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships at the Leo Palace Resort Swimming Pool in Guam on Sunday with an eighth place finish out of the 12 participating teams.

Wong competed in the 100m butterfly event in the penultimate day of the meet and timed in at one minute, 2.44 seconds. With his new personal best, Wong was named an alternate in the B finals.

During Day 2 of the tournament, Wong qualified for the finals of the 100m breaststroke when he clocked in at 1:10.72. In the finals, he raced against swimmers from Japan, China, the U.S., and Australia and posted 1:09.86, which could have been a new CNMI National Record had Wong was not disqualified for an illegal downward dolphin kick.

Staal, the other Tsunami Saipan swimmer who qualified to join individual races, swam in the 50m freestyle preliminary race Sunday and beat rival Ken Barcinas of Guam with the CNMI bet timing in at 25.86 seconds. Staal was also an alternate in the B finals.

A day before the 50m freestyle event, Staal joined his teammates in the 400m freestyle race and timed in at 55.93 seconds in his 100m lap. It was past his 100m freestyle mark of 57.36 seconds, which Staal recorded on Day 2 of the tournament.

Staal, along with Wong, Shin Kimura, and Cooper Graf, also joined the 400m freestyle relay on Saturday and 400m medley relay on Sunday.

“They did a great job in the relay races. All the people in he pool deck saw how our swimmers tried their best to keep pace with their opponents from Japan, U.S., New Zealand, Australia, and China,” Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura said.

“Competing in the JPP for the first time was a great moment for our swimmers. It was also a first step toward our goal which is to compete more in very competitive tournaments,” he added.

Tsunami Saipan swimmers returned from their impressive stint at the Pan Pacific meet Monday afternoon and Kimura said they will resume training this week to prepare for future tournaments.

The Pan Pacific meet also featured swimmers from Canada, India, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Guatemala, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Macau, and Palau.

The 18-and-under swim meet is a prestigious event with its previous competitors including winningest Olympian Michael Phelps, Liesel Jones, Brendan Hansen, Natalie Coughlin, and Kosuke Kitajima.