Tammy triumphs in virtual swim meet

Eleven-year-old Miku Tammy shone the brightest in the third virtual meet between Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center and Tsunami Guam last Saturday.

Tammy topped both the girls 11 to 12’s 50m freestyle and 200m freestyle races, blowing out her competitor. She clocked in at 31.28 seconds in the 50m freestyle and the time was faster than the CNMI age group mark (33.50 seconds), which she incidentally holds and made on May 25, 2013 during a tournament in Guam. Tammy’s time in last Saturday afternoon’s event at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool could not be considered a record since it was earned in a virtual meet and was not sanctioned under the Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation.

Fifteen other swimmers joined the 50m freestyle race in the girls 11 to 12 age group and Tammy finished ahead of the next four Tsunami Guam finishers. The Tsunami Saipan swimmer won over Samantha Hon (33.36 seconds), Leilani Koiwa (33.91 seconds), Reina Ross (33.98 seconds), and Kylie Miller (34.69 seconds). Tsunami Guam swimmers’ time in the Guam Swimming Federation meet held last Saturday morning at the Hagatna Swimming Pool were considered for the third virtual meet between the two clubs.

In the 200m freestyle event, Tammy completed the race in 2:34.96, around 13 seconds faster than Hon, which submitted 2:47.63. Eleven others joined the event and only four finished the race under three minutes.

Meanwhile, Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura said out of the 20 races in the virtual meet, Tsunami Saipan swimmers finished first in 14 with the club’s U8 team dominating Tsunami Guam.

In the girls U8’s 200m freestyle, Tsunami Saipan took the Top 4 finish with Nanaka Watanabe at first place with her 3:26.40, followed by Ashley Dangol (3:36.85), Natsuki Nagata (3:59.21), and Kana Suzuki (4:20.66). In the boys U8 division, Anthony Camacho Deleon Guerrero was the fastest with his 3:27.37, beating Tsunami Saipan teammate Hans Xu (3:30.42).

In the girls 9 to 10, Tsunami Saipan’s Sophia Gauran (2:54.12) and Aika Watanabe (3:15.87) defeated Tsunami Guam swimmers, while in the boys division, Kimura’s wards claimed the Top. 3 finish. Ryuto Yanai won the event with his 2:31.46, ahead of brother Kenshiro Yanai (2:53.50) and Juhn Tenorio (3:00.79).

In the boys 11 to 12, Tsunami Guam’s Jimi Hendrix denied Tsunami Saipan’s bid for a sweep as his 2:25.39 edged the 2:40.57 of Mark Maestro.
In the 13 to 14 age group, Tsunami Saipan was back on top with Angel Marie Tan and Kaito Yanai prevailing against their rivals from Tsunami Guam. Tan logged 2:29.52 to beat Hanna White (2:34.84), while Kaito Yanai tallied 2:14.93 to win against Kai Aricayos (2:24.81).

Tsunami Guam got the elusive sweep in the over 15 division with Misaki Iijima recording 2:16.77 and Jagger Stephens registering 2:02.74. Iijima and Stephens also won the 50m freestyle event after logging 28.60 seconds and 24.82 seconds, respectively.

Duplicating the Tsunami Guam swimmers’ feat were Tan and Kaito Yanao, who posted 30.98 seconds and 28.37 seconds, to rule the sprint event.

In the 11 to 12 age group, Hendrix shared the top honors anew with Tammy, as the former clocked in at 33.03 seconds to beat seven others in the 50m freestyle race.

In the girls 9 to 10, Gauran (35.30 seconds) led the podium and was joined in the Top 3 by Tsunami Saipan teammate Aika Watanabe (40.04 seconds) and Tsunami Guam’s Esabelle Eldridge (45.32 seconds). In the 18-field boys division, Tsunami Saipan occupied the Top 3 spots with Ryuto Yanai (31.28 seconds) on top, followed by Kenshiro Yanai (36.39 seconds) and Tenorio (37.43 seconds).

Tsunami Saipan had another sweep in the U8 age group with Deleon Guerrero (42.69 seconds) winning the boys division against 13 other swimmers and Nanaka Watanabe (43.04 seconds) defeating nine swimmers in the girls race.

Besides the 50m and 200m freestyle, Tsunami Saipan also held challenge races last Saturday with 11 swimmers joining the 50m butterfly, breaststroke, and backstroke events.