More PBTs for SSC swimmers

Swimmers get ready at the starting block during the 200m freestyle race in last Saturday’s SSC Double Distance Meet at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Only Saipan Swim Club swimmers joined the three other individual freestyle races in the SSC Double Distance Meet and the hosts capitalized on the opportunity by recording 15 more personal best times last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

In the 800m freestyle, all five SSC members who did the 16-lap swim before reset their PBTs. Kento Akimaru was the fastest at 10:23.38 (from 10:39.60), followed by Taiga Sato (11:02.48), Christian Villacrusis (11:25.73), Caleb Wang (11:42.31) and Salofi Welch (11:42.92). Lennosuke Suzuki tried the longest race of the day for the first time and had an impressive 10:33.72, while R.J. Pierce and David Boyer also debuted in the same event and clocked in at 11:38.41 and 12:11.39, respectively.

Lennosuke swam in the 400m freestyle, too and his 5:09.96 eclipsed his previous PBT of 5:30.39. Five other SSC swimmers gained PBTs and the list includes Lennosuke’s younger brother Jinnosuke (5:25.05), Coume Kaga (6:17.98), Taiyo Akimaru (6:14.59), Taiga (5:16.37), and Kento (4:49.45).

Coume and Jinnosuke bagged their third PBTs (including their records in the 100m freestyle) in the first meet of the season after submitting 3:00.74 and 2:32.41 in the 200m freestyle, respectively. Kaga’s previous PBT read at 3:11.82, while Jinnosuke’s old PBT was 2:40.06.

Other SSC swimmers who joined the 200m freestyle event with no seed times were Wataru Kadokura (4:08.49), Robert De Courteny (4:11.56), and Rintaro Miyawaki (3:08.77).

Meanwhile, last weekend’s competition also featured relay races—400m and 200m freestyle.

In the longer relay race, the quartet of Kento, Welch, Lennosuke, and Villacrusis timed in at 4:21.54 to finish ahead of the foursome of Jinnosuke, Boyer, Taiga, and Wang, who combined for 4:32.34.

In the girls 9 to 10 200m freestyle race, Tsunami Saipan’s Ashley Dangol, Nanaka Watanabe, Kana Suzuki, and Asaka Litulumar capped the event at the 2:36.27 mark to beat the 2:54.13 of their teammates Shoko Litulumar, Risa Sekiguchi, Shaunalyn Babauta, and Ayumi Obligacion.

The other 200m freestyle relay races in the girls division had only Tsunami Saipan swimmers competing. Maria Batallones joined forces with Mizuki Suzuki, Seiyul Hong, and Seoni Park in the 11 to 12 age group and they timed in at 3:40.80, while the team of Miku Tammy, Rei Sekiguchi, Kathrine Illahi, and Kyona Rivera submitted 2:20.62 in the 13 to 14 division. In the over 17 age group, Angel De Jesus, Aika Watanabe, Sophia Gauran, and Daime Rivera logged 2:17.62.

In the boys 9 to 10, Tsunami Saipan’s Sean Gil, Hans Xu, Isaiah Aleksenko, and Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero posted 2:27.34 to prevail against SSC’s Wataru, De Courteny, Mark Jainier Chavez, and Dino Sato, who registered 3:10.18.

Takeru Jim, Cojiro Kaga, Zeno Iwami, and Kengo Sato of SSC raced in the U8 division and clocked in at 4:29.34, while Tsunami Saipan’s Aasih Dangol, Rentaro Suzuki, Arman Rechucher, and Jaden Castro swam in the 11 to 12 age group and tallied 2:58.65. The Tsunami Saipan foursome of Takumi Sugie, Nelson Batallones, Mark Maestro, and Juhn Tenorio recorded the fastest time in the event with their 2:07.57, while SSC had a mixed team in the 11 to 12 age group with Akira, Miyawaki, Andrei Kaith Lynn Chavez, and Coume timing in at 2:38.30.