Records surge for Tsunami Saipan swimmers

 Records fell one after another during the Tsunami Swim Circuit Series 3 held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi.

Tsunami Saipan’s Lukas Kang, Ryuto Yanai, Miku Tammy, Kaito Yanai, Angel Marie Tan, and Kensuke Kimura all made it to the CNMI record books after combining for seven age group marks-the most posted in a single meet in years.

Kang crushed three records in the boys U18 age group with the first one in the 400m freestyle event where he timed in at 5:34.00 to surpass the 6:09.43 Kimura logged on Feb. 25, 2005. Ryuto Yanai was on the same race as Kang and former’s 5:42.13 also bettered Kimura’s mark.

The 8-year-old Kang’s second age group mark came from the 100m breaststroke event after he clocked in at 1:38.22, chopping off more than two seconds from his previous mark (1:40.77/April 16, 2011). In the 50m backstroke, Kang also reset his previous record (40.82 seconds/April 16, 2011), tallying 39.24 seconds in last Saturday’s competition.

Ryuto’s older brother, Kaito, shattered the 18-year mark of Jacoby Winkfield in the boys 11 to 12 100m breaststroke swim. Kaito submitted 1:19.26 to eclipse the 1:22.72 Winkfield established on April 25, 1993.

Kimura also broke one of the marks made in the 90s when he timed in at 2:20.25 in the boys 13 to 14 200m backstroke, passing the 2:23.01 David Palacios logged on Aug. 19, 1995.

Tan’s record-swim came in the 200m backstroke event, too. She posted 2:53.96 in the girls 11 to 12 age group, passing by about four seconds the record of Nina Mosley (2:57.02/April 27, 2002).

Tammy entered the CNMI record books for the first time after clocking in at 5:43.69 in the girls 9 to 10 400m freestyle race. She was more than four seconds faster than previous record-holder Amanda Johnson, who logged 5:47.72 in the same event on April 26, 2002.

“It was a big celebration for Tsunami, as Tammy became the second swimmer (Tan was the first one) from the club to mark a CNMI age group record. Congratulations to Miku, Kaito, Ryuto, Kensuke, and Angel,” Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura said.

The Tsunami Saipan mentor added that breaking the records of CNMI top swimmers Mosley, Palacios, and Winkfield, was a huge achievement for his swimmers.

“We respect these swimmers. Mosley is a gold medalist in the Mini SPG and Micro Games. Winkfield and Palacios were the superstars during Bill Sakovich’s coaching time,” Kimura said.

Former Tsunami Saipan president Stan Good echoed Kimura’s thoughts.

“It is really satisfying to see the kids breaking these old records. I remembered when some of these records were made and how excited the kids were at that time. If we could contact the former swimmers I know they would be very excited and proud of the Tsunami swimmers. Before, we didn’t think some of these records would be broken,” Good said.