Seven in a row for Whispering Palms

 First of a three-part series

Whispering Palms clinched an unprecedented seventh consecutive division title after topping the elementary division of the 18th SSC All Schools Swimming Championships held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Whispering Palms collected 251 points to defend the elementary division championship anew against the strong Garapan Elementary School (140 points) and the much-improved Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School (83). Garapan was also the runner-up last season, while GTC was not included in the Top 3 in 2010.

Last year’s third placer, Saipan Community School, dropped to fifth this time with its 46 points, while Saipan International School moved up to fourth with 65 points. San Vicente Elementary School came in at sixth with 32 points, followed by Kagman Elementary School (25), Dandan (18), and Mt. Carmel School (15).

Points were awarded to schools based on how their swimmers finished the races. Nine points were given 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, 18 points were awarded to the winners, 14 to the runners-up, and 12 to the third placers.

“I am pleased not only with our victory, but also with the number of participants from our school. I commend coach Jeff Race for doing a great job in organizing the team and encouraging our students to join the tournament. The object of this competition is not really to win, but to get the students involved in activities outside our school,” Whispering Palms principal Tom Weindl said in a telephone interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.

The seven-time champion had 32 swimmers-the most by any school-joining the weekend event with more than 20 students participating in the elementary division races. Last year, Race fielded 26 swimmers and 22 of them competed in elementary division.

Whispering Palms earned 68 points in the relay races alone with the quartet of Gillian Villagomez, Hana Lynn Nelson, Melanie Chloe, and Arman Khorram giving the Terns 18 points in the 10 to 12 mixed 200m freestyle relay. Also handing Whispering Palms 18 points were the teams of Sally Lai, Naoki Kasai, Shea Hartig, and Jin Ju Thompson (U9 200m medley relay) and Cole Chambers, Amon McGuire, Steven Goodwin, and Logan Mister (10 to 12 medley relay).

Other members of Whispering Palms’ elementary division team were Kaden Church, You Sun Lee, Sam Ryu, Mylan Goodwin, Ellie Epley, Sun Bin Cho, Bella Loan, Dominic Zedde, Jon Villagomez, Eugene Park, Justin and Chloe Kosack, Blake Mister, Zion Okano, Rachel Kwon, and Amber Montegengro. Majority of the members of the squad finished in the Top 5.

Results of the junior high school and high school divisions will be published in Saipan Tribune’s Wednesday and Thursday’s editions, respectively.