GCA tops high school division

 Last part of a three-part series

Grace Christian Academy foiled Saipan Southern High School’s bid for a repeat after winning the high school division crown in the 18th SSC All Schools Swimming Championships by a hair.

The Eagles collected 70 points in last Saturday’s competition at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi to dethrone the Rays, which fell a point short of defending their championship after earning 69 markers.

GCA fielded a team in the high school division’s medley relay-the last event of the day-to make the difference in the close race. The quartet of Kensuke Kimura, Shigeki Tenorio, Min Seok Yoo, and Patrick Reyes gave the Eagles 18 points.

Kimura added 18 more points for GCA after topping the men’s over 14 200m freestyle race (2:09.16) against Southern’s Kaisei Toda (2:25.32) and Home School’s Andrew Kimball (2:28.33) and racing in the 100m backstroke (1:06.96).

Tenorio duplicated Kimura’s feat, winning the 100m breaststroke (1:16.85) against Marianas High School’s Lester Lapuz (1:33.45) and swimming in the 200m individual medley (2:36.84).

Southern had its share of first-place finishes with Marvin Lee beating Yoo in the 100m freestyle and reigning in the 50m butterfly against four others. Lee timed in at 1:09.64 in the 100m freestyle to down Yoo (1:45.77) and then clocked in at 35.03 seconds in the 50m butterfly to beat MHS’ Michael Moran (35.04 seconds), Southern’s San Kim (35.86 seconds), and GCA’s Reyes (47.87 seconds) and Yoo (53.46 seconds).

The MHS Dolphins returned to the competition last weekend after missing last year’s event and finished third with 48 points. Lapuz gave 16 points to MHS as he ended up first in the 50m freestyle and second in the 100m breaststroke races. He won the 50m freestyle event with a time of 28.92 seconds, besting Moran (29.51 seconds) and Southern’s San (34.30 seconds) and Andrew Kim (35.90 seconds).

The Dolphins then gained 18 points in the girls division with Daime Rivera racing in the 100m breaststroke (1:41.85) and 50m butterfly (44.47 seconds).

Points were given to schools based on how their swimmers finished the races. Nine points were awarded to the top finisher in the individual race, seven to second, six to third, five to fourth, four to fifth, three to six, two to seventh, and one to eighth. In relays, winners received 18 points, 14 to the runners-up, and 12 to the third placers.