Record rush for Tsunami Saipan swimmers

Tsunami Saipan’s Isaiah Aleksenko competes in the 100m backstroke event in the 2017 Saipan Swim Club International Meet held late last month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan made a milestone during the 2017 Saipan Swim Club International Meet after setting 14 age group records in last month’s competition at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

The swim marks was the most by Tsunami Saipan in one tournament since the club was formed in 2007.

Isaiah Aleksenko led Tsunami Saipan’s record rush, as he earned eight marks in the boys 9 to 10 age group. The 10 year-old swimmer posted three records each in freestyle and butterfly and two in backstroke events.

In the 50m freestyle, Aleksenko timed in at 30.58 seconds, eclipsing his own mark (30.68 seconds) registered on Oct. 1, 2016. His two other records in freestyle also surpassed the best times made on Oct. 1 last year by Saipan Swim Club’s Jinnosuke Suzuki. Alekenko’s 1:06.20 in the 100m freestyle crushed the 1.06.93 of Suzuki, while the former’s 2:22.42 was more than two seconds faster than the 2:24.51 of the latter.

In the 50m butterfly, Aleksenko checked in at 33.62 seconds to beat the 33.99 seconds that former Tsunami Saipan swimmer Kaito Yanai established on Feb. 20, 2010. Another Yanai record fell when Aleksenko submitted 1:14.37 in the 100m butterfly to top the former’s 1:16.96 posted on May 22, 2010. In the 200m butterfly, Aleksenko slipped past the record of Kaito’s brother, Ryuto, after clocking in at 2:44.17. Ryuto’s record earned on May 3,2014 read at 2:56.86.

For his last two age group marks, Aleksenko logged 35.76 seconds in the 50m backstroke to reset his own record (37.29 seconds/Feb. 18, 2017), while in the 100m backstroke, the Tsunami Saipan swimmer registered 1:19.27—more than a second better than the 1:21.96 Lukas Kang, also of Tsunami Saipan, established on Jan. 21, 2012.

With his impressive eight swim marks in a single tournament, Aleksenko now holds 10 of the 15 records in the 9 to 10 age groups. He also owns the 400m (5:08.50) and 800m (10:34.52) freestyle marks in the division. Kaito Yanai and SSC’s Kento Akimaru are the other record holders in the group.

Meanwhile, Ashley Dangol and Juhn Tenorio also contributed to Tsunami Saipan’s record haul as the former got five age group marks and the latter made one.

Dangol’s 35.62 seconds in the 50m backstroke surpassed the 35.77 she tallied just last Feb. 18 this year, while her four other marks in the 9 to 10 age group all broke the records of her former teammate Miku Tammy. In the 100m backstroke, Dangol clocked in at 1:18.60 to beat the 1:19.10 Tammy recorded on March 23, 2013. In the 50m butterfly, the 10-year-old checked in at 32.27 seconds, which is better than the 33.04 of Tammy (March 23, 2013), while in the 100m butterfly, Dangol’s 1:15.48 was more than a second ahead of the latter’s mark (1:16.77/March 22, 2013). In the 200m butterfly, Dangol chopped off nearly three seconds from Tammy’s record, (2:52.64) after posting 2:49.81.

Juhn Tenorio, on the other hand, earned an age group mark (11 to 12) in the 200m backstroke as his 2:37.61 broke the 2:39.48 Kaito Yanai registered on April 13, 2012. Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero also raced in the same age group and broke the 2:52.50 Ryuto Yanai logged in the 200m butterfly after the latter clocked in at 2:51.24. However, Suzuki got the new mark as he beat Camacho-Deleon Guerrero with a time of 2:45.87.