Previous Story
CNMI swimmers leave for PNG today
The CNMI Swim Team leaves Saipan today to compete in the XV Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea.
The squad is composed of swimmers Victoria Chentsova, Takumi Sugie, and Angel De Jesus, coach Jacoby Winkfield, and his assistant Elna Delos Santos. Chentsova and company are among the first batch of CNMI athletes and officials going to PNG in time for the Games’ opening ceremony on July 4 at the Sir John Guise Outdoor Stadium in Port Moresby. This year’s Pacific Games will run until July 18, while the swimming competition at the Taurama Aquatic Centre and Indoor Sports Complex will be held from July 6 to 12.
Chentsova and Sugie will be participating in 10 events each in PNG, while De Jesus is entered in 11 races.
Takumi Sugie, seen here competing in the 50m freestyle race in a local event early this year, is of the three CNMI swimmers leaving Saipan today to participate in the XV Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
De Jesus will join the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and 200m freestyle events where she has personal best times of 30.68 seconds, 1:06.33, and 2:33.28, respectively. The Marianas High School student will also have three events in backstroke—50m (37.43 seconds PBT), 100m (1:25.10), and 200m (3:02.24). In the breaststroke and butterfly, De Jesus will only compete in two events each. Her PBTs in the 50m and 100m breaststroke read at 42.12 seconds and 1:35.60, respectively, while she registered 34.56 seconds and 1:21.19 in the 50m and 100m butterfly events.
Chentsova will also race in the 50m butterfly where she has a PBT of 37.16 seconds, but majority of her events will be in freestyle—50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m. She broke the 30-second barrier in the 50m freestyle with her PBT of 29.87 seconds, while her other PBTs are 1:04.53 (100m), 2:18.64 (200m), 4:53.66 (400m), and 9:59.78 (800m). Chentsova’s three other events are 200m backstroke (2:41.70), 200m individual medley (2:45.10), and 50m backstroke (36.50 seconds).
Sugie will join the 50m backstroke event, too, hoping to surpass his PBT of 33.80 seconds. The lone male swimmer on the small squad will have six other sprint races—the 50m (PBT of 27.56 seconds) and 100m (1:00.56) freestyle, 50m (30.60 seconds) and 100m (1:08.66) butterfly, 100m backstroke (1:13.40), and 50m breaststroke (38.60 seconds). The 200m freestyle (2:15.60), 200m backstroke (2:30.50), and 2:35.46 IM (2:35.46) complete Sugie’s list of events.
The three CNMI swimmers are in for a tough competition and Winkfield hopes this will inspire them to have great swims in PNG.
“We are looking forward to swimming against teams in the Oceania region. Our swimmers have been training hard all year and I am looking forward to great swims from Victoria, Takumi, and Angel,” Winkfield said.
“I am anticipating a lot of fast swimming at this meet, which will feature Olympians and Olympic trials qualifiers. It is a great opportunity for our swimmers to see how they measure up against the top swimmers in our region. This meet is an important stepping stone for our swimmers in gaining experience on a large international scale, as well as for the CNMI swimming program as a whole,” the coach added.
