Family affair at Meek and Mighty swim

The 2014 Saipan Swim Club Meek and Might Ocean Swim in the waters off Pacific Islands Club turned out to be a family affair.

Father and daughter, father and son, mother and daughter, sisters, brothers, grandmother and grandson, husband and wife, and even an entire family joined last Saturday’s early morning swim.

The Goodwins, mother Tina, father Tim, and siblings Steven and Milan, led the nearly 50 participants in the annual race. Tim topped the 800-meter swim, completing one loop of the race in 15:17, while Steven finished ninth after clocking in at 17:55. Tina and Milan came out of the water together before the latter beat her mother on the way to the finish line. Milan submitted 21:03 against Tina’s 22:19.

In the same one-loop race, Richard Villagomez accompanied his daughter Susana, who made it to the shore at the 22:28 mark. Richard stayed in the water a bit and checked in at 23:24. Susana’s brother Richard Jr. finished earlier, clocking in at 19:23, while her sister Nieves joined the shortest race in the day (about 200m) and logged 5:51.

Wataru Kadokura and Dino Sato were also in the 200m race, submitting 5:27 and 5:42, respectively, while their siblings Akira Kadokura and Ayaka competed in the 800m swim. Akira timed in at 15:53 and was fourth overall behind Tim Goodwin, co-second placers Rintaro Miyawaki (15:27) and Taiyo Akimaru (15:27), and Sami Nimura (15:45), while Ayaka was ranked seventh after registering 16:28.

Jinie Thompson also raced in the 800m swim and recorded 20:14 (No. 14 place), while older sister Jinju participated in the three-loop, 2.4-K race and made it to the Top 10 with her ninth-best time of 49:36.

Other 800m finishers were Leo Takahashi (15:54), Kaitlin Mattos (16:33), R.J. Pierce (18:49), Miku Torres (18:54), Steven Johnson (19:05), Jun Lee (20:44), and Kenneth Cave (20:57).

In the 2.4K swim, mother and daughter Conatsu and Ayumi Kaga completed the event with the former having a better time than her mother, 48:17 to 57:27. Husband and wife Joshua and Mamiko Berger were in the same race and logged 51:09 and 59:25, respectively.

Gary De Guzman, one of SSC’s coaches, had the fastest time in the three-loop race, submitting 42:45, while Suzy Kindel came in at second with her 46:28. Youth swimmers Rinto Takahashi (48:06), David Boyer (48:07), and Jinnosuke Suzuki (48:13) rounded out the Top 5. Other finishers were Rinto’s father Kaoru Takahashi (48:38), Kanae Quinn (49:29), Atsuko Sato (50:57) Manny Sitchon (53:94), Hyun Tae Choi (57:43), Danny Calvo (57:50), Tomomi Sato (57:59), Kimiko McKagan (58:55), and Ricky Castro (1:03:01).

In the longest race of the day, a five-loop swim (nearly 5K), Taiyo Akimaru’s older brother Kento posted the best time (59:45). Kento was the lone swimmer to complete five loops in less than an hour, as second placer Victoria Chentsova submitted 1:00:00.02. Christian Villacrusis was third after registering 1:06:16, while Taiga Sato (1:06:17) and Lennosuke Suzuki (1:09:13) came in at fourth and fifth. R.J. Pierce’s grandmother Carol Lynn completed the finishers’ list after timing in at 1:16:51.