Maxi crushes 2 swim marks

Saipan Swim Club’s Maxi Braig continued his record-breaking year, shattering two more 9 to 10 age group marks during the SSC-Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan dual meet held early this month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi.

The 10-year-old SSC swimmer set records in the 50m and 100m freestyle swim after timing in at 32.34 seconds and 1:11.57, respectively.

Braig’s time in the 50m broke Joshua Taitano’s 32.55 posted on Jan. 4, 1992. Braig’s 100m freesyle time shattered another Taitano mark (1:12.01) made on the same date.

The Saipan International School student’s times in the 50m and 100m freestyle both received a triple A mark in the U.S. Age Group Standard Time.

A triple A time represents a level equal to 93 percent of the National Top 16 Reportable Time. NRT represents a level that a swimmer must surpass to submit his name for consideration on the annual Top 16 list. The annual rankings (short course and long course) are published in Swimming World magazine and each qualifier receives a certificate of recognition from USA Swimming. Swimmers earning a NRT Time are in the Top 1 percent of American Age Group swimmers.

Four months after the 2009 season started, Braig has set three records in the boys’ 9 to 10 age group. His first record-breaking swim of the year was during the 2009 SSC Heptathlon Swim Meet in February.

Braig timed in at 37.84 seconds in the 50m butterfly swim, eclipsing Jonathan Sakovich’s time of 38.45 seconds, which was recorded on Jan. 13, 1980.

The SSC swimmer crushed the second oldest record in CNMI swimming history. The oldest were Sakovich’s 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle marks in the 8-and-under division. The records (April 5, 1979) stood for 30 years before Tsunami Saipan’s Ryosei Toda and Hiroto Yanai broke them during the same dual meet, two weeks ago.

Braig’s first record of the year broke the oldest mark in his age group. Two more age group records were set in 1980 with Keith Ludwick clocking in at 39.50 seconds in the 50m backstroke (March 28, 1980) and 1:26.08 in the 100m backstroke (October 5, 1980).

Meanwhile, more than 20 SSC swimmers participated in the dual meet, which was held on April 4 and 5. The list included Sarah, Andrew, and Matthew Klassen, Grace and Andrew Kimball, Emma and Abigail Martinsen, Bryce Daly, Lennosuke Suzuki, Taiga Sato, Emily and Steven An, Lyndsay Esplin, Junior Pamaran, Lester Lapuz, Kento Akimaru, Luther Lizama, Michael and Keanna Villagomez, Ryu Tanzawa, Tatiana Calvo, Michael Moran, Victoria Chentsova, and Akira Kadokura.