Rezne resets 50m breaststroke record

CNMI swimmer Rezne Wong completed his stint in the 2011 Summer Universiade in style after resetting the Commonwealth national record in the 50m breaststroke event.

The 20-year-old swimmer finished the 50m breaststroke at the Natatorium of Universiade Center in Shenzhen, China, yesterday in 31.31 seconds, breaking his personal best and CNMI mark (31.62 seconds). Wong posted the previous CNMI national mark on July 28, 2009, during the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy.

Wong joined Heat 4 of the qualifying race and placed sixth out of the eight swimmers in the group. Switzerland’s Yannick Kaser won the heat with a time of 29.32 seconds, followed by Sweden’s Jesper Akesson (29.44 seconds), Lithuania’s Simas Jarasunas (30.01), Switzerland’s Killian Bossard (30.10 seconds), Hong Kong’s Hochum Yan (30.40 seconds), Wong, Macau’s Mankit Chao (32.31 seconds), and Peru’s Enriquez Angel Chavez (33.93 seconds).

Brazil’s Junior Joao Gomez recorded the fastest time in the qualifying heat of the 50m breaststroke event at 27.60 seconds to advance to the finals with five other swimmers.

The 50m breaststroke yesterday was Wong’s sixth and last event in Shenzhen and his first appearance in the World University Games resulted in three new CNMI marks.

His two other records came in the 50m butterfly last Monday and the 100m breaststroke last Tuesday. In the 50m butterfly, Wong clocked in at 26.66 seconds, eclipsing the 27.87 seconds Kai Stall logged on April 16, 2011. Then in the 100m breaststroke, Wong submitted 1:07.66 seconds, surpassing the 1:08.79 he made on July 26, 2009, during the World Championships in Italy.

The CNMI swimmer joined three other races—the 200m breaststroke (2:27.17), 100m butterfly (1:00.24), and the 200m individual medley (2:13.65)—and missed the Commonwealth national marks.

Wong and biker Matthew Mancao were the first ones to represent the CNMI in the International University Sports Federation-sanctioned event, which started on Aug. 11 and will conclude on Aug. 23. Mancao was entered in the 158.6-kilometer road race, but did not finish the event due to an earlier crash.

After eight days of competition, host China leads the medal standings with its 20-10-14 gold-silver-bronze medal tally, followed by Russia (19-14-16), Japan (15-15-22), South Korea (12-14-12), and the U.S. (9-12-5). Rounding out the Top 10 are Ukraine (5-7-4), Lithuania (4-3-2), New Zealand (4-3-2), France (3-6-12), and Italy (3-3-6). More than 60 countries are competing in the 13-day event.