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Strong finish for Akimaru, Welch
Saipan Swim Club’s Kento Akimaru does the butterfly stroke of the 200m individual medley event in last Saturday’s 2016 Northern Mariana Island Swimming Federation Meet 2 held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Saipan Swim Club’s Kento Akimaru and Salofi Welch capped the 2016 Northern Mariana Island Swimming Federation Meet 2 with personal best swims.
Akimaru and Welch were among the four swimmers who raced in the final event—200m individual medley—in last Saturday’s at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool and both posted personal best times. The 16-year-old Akimaru completed the race in 2:26.90, more than a second better than his old PBT of 2:28.55. He was also the first to finish the event.
The 18-year-old Welch came in at third with his 2:41.79, breaking his previous mark (2:52.03) by nearly 11 seconds. Lennosuke Suzuki, also of SSC, was ranked second with his 2:37.43, but he missed a PBT as his old record read at 2:34.15. Another SSC swimmer—Taiga Sato—completed the last race of the competition and timed in 2:53.78, about two seconds shy of his previous PBT (1:51.93).
Meanwhile, in the penultimate event of the NMISF Meet 2—the 50m freestyle—13 swimmers earned PBTs.
The list includes boys 13 to 14’s Nelson Batallones (30.68 seconds), Joseph Zhang (34.64), and Kevin Guerrero (43.99), 11 to 12’s Dan Illahi (40.46) and Jun Tenorio (33.05), 9 to 10’s Hans Xu (34.27), Kena Pajarillaga (46.17), and U8’s Kouki Watanabe (43.74). In the girls division, the PBT getters were Dolphin Club Saipan’s Samantha Liske-Clarke (55.91 seconds), Tsunami Saipan’s Asaka Litulumar (37.88), Michelle Chen (55.00), Julia Jinang (56.77), and Maria Batallones (41.30). All are Tsunami Saipan swimmers.
In the 50m breaststroke, Tsunami Saipan’s Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero also had a PBT (44.44 seconds) along with his teammates Isaiah Aleksenko (46.48), Xu (48.12), Aasish Dangol (51.72), Aika Watanabe (45.67), Asaka Litulumar (44.36), and SSC’s Taiyo Akimaru (47.81).
In the 100m freestyle, 13 marked PBTs. They were SSC’s Jinie Thompson (1:23.41), Aoi Braxton (1:42.03) and Nieves (1:49.76), Susana (1:34.99), and Richard (1:19.92) Villagomez; and Tsunami Saipan’s Aasish Dangol (1:24.59), Kouki Watanabe (1:39.60), Risa Sekiguchi (1:26.41), Ayumi Obligacion (1:38.70), and Shoko Litulumar (1:36.61). Completing the list were Dolphin Saipan’s Sonny Holandez (1:48.70), Liske-Clarke (2:12.47), and Gemmilie Anne Eugenio (2:21.32).
