Kaga and Sato lead Taga Kids winners

Twenty-five joined last Saturday’s 2015 Taga Kids with Saipan Swim Club’s Taiga Sato and Conatsu Kaga among the top finishers in the weekend race held around the American Memorial Park.

Sato was the overall No. 1 finisher in the 9 to 12 age group, completing the 200-meter swim, 10K bike, and 2K run in 36:30.73. He bested eight other boys finishers in his division and had split times of 6:10.42 in the one-lap swim in the waters off Micro Beach, 15:28.08 in the two-lap bike leg, and 14:52.22 in the two-lap run race.

Rintaro Miyawaki, who had the fastest time in the run leg despite starting to run barefoot on his way to finishing the first lap, came in at second with a combined time of 38:54.72 (splits of 6:40.41, 17:29.79, and 14:44.52). Rinto Takahashi rounded out the Top 3 after logging 40:34.87 and posting split times of 6:32.87, 16:59.57, and 17:02.43.

Other finishers in the boys 9 to 12 division were Akira Kadokura (43:01.96), Jinnosuke Suzuki (45:19.50), Kaden Church (45:25.19), Leo Takahashi (51:09.32), Taiyo Akimaru (54:32.33), and Richard Villagomez (59:39.29).

In the girls division, Conatsu prevailed against seven others with her third-best time of 39:16.17. Conatsu had 6:28.71 in the swim leg and registered 16:45.50 and 16:31.96 in the bike and run parts, respectively.

Jin Ju Thompson and Rei Sekiguchi joined Conatsu in the podium with the former completing the second longest race of the day in 42:29.86 (splits of 6:24.99, 17:06.52, and 18:58.35). Rei Sekiguchi had split times of 6:48.69, 20:17.22, and 15:34.65 for a combined time of 42:40.56.

Conatsu’s younger sister, Coume (50:21.98), finished fourth and was followed by Ayaka Sato (53:58.98), Natsuki Nagata (1:01:29), Risa Sekiguchi (1:01:29), and Susana Villagomez (1:10:11).

Meanwhile, Isaiah Aleksenko, Andrei Kaithlyn Chaves, and Christian Villacrusis were the winners in the two other races.

Aleksenko topped the boys 6 to 8 age group, completing the 100m swim, 5K bike, and 1K run in 15:41.01, while Chavez submitted 19:48.68 with split times of 4:27.26, 6:55.03, and 8:26.39. Aleksenko defeated Wataru Kadokura (18:44.26), Dino (19:56.7) and Kengo (25:04.60) Sato and Cojiro Kaga (25:54.99).

In the 13 to 15 division, Villacrusis was the lone entry and capped the 300m swim, 15K bike, and 3K run in 59:57.46. The SSC swimmer registered 12:32.34 in the three-lap swim leg, 22:37.60 in the run, and 35:09.94.