Swim records fall in last NMISF meet

Tsunami Saipan’s Miku Tammy, seen here racing against a Guam swimmer in the 100m backstroke during the SSC International Meet this year, set a new record in the girls 11 to 12s 100m backstroke during NMISF’s season-ending tournament early this month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

Four new age group records and a bunch of personal best times marked the last meet Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation sanctioned for the 2013-2014 season.

Tsunami Saipan’s Ryuto and Kaito Yanai and Miku Tammy set new age group mark, while their teammates and swimmers from Saipan Swim Club combined for 49 PBTs in a fruitful finale meet held last May 3 at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi.

Tammy broke a 12-year-old record in the 100m backstroke after registering 1:17.79 in the last local tournament of the season. Her time shattered the 1:19.76 Myana Welch of SSC established on Jan. 12, 2002, in the girls 11 to 12 age group.

In the boys 9 to 10 age group, Ryuto earned a pair of records. The first one was in the 200m butterfly, as he timed in at 2:56.86 to eclipse his own mark (3:03.63) posted on May 24, 2013. Ryuto’s other record was made in the 50m backstroke, as he finished the event in 38.13 seconds, surpassing the 39.05 seconds Kento Akimaru of SSC logged on April 16, 2011.

Ryuto’s oldest brother, Kaito, reset his own record in the 50m breaststroke in the boys 13 to 14 division, clocking in at 33.13 seconds in the May competition to better the 33.20 seconds he tallied a few months ago during the SSC International Meet (March 22, 2014).

Fourteen other swimmers also raced in the 50m breaststroke and half of them gained PBTs. In the girls 9 to 10, siblings Coume (56.10 seconds) and Conatsu (49.81 seconds) Kaga led SSC’s PBT rush, while their teammates Susana Villagomez (1:11.07), Leo Takahashi (59.05 seconds), and Lennosuke Suzuki (43.82 seconds) had the same feat. Tsunami’s Kyona Rivera and Katherin Illahi also earned PBTs after recording 46.38 seconds and 55.32 seconds, respectively.

The Kaga sisters also had PBTs in the 400m freestyle after Conatsu touched the wall at 6:14:46 (from 7:22:85) and Coume at 6:59.69 (8:34.69). Also registering PBTs in the 400m freestyle were SSC’s Christian Villacrusis and Tsunami Saipan’s Mark Maestro. Villacrusis chopped about 30 seconds from his previous PBT (5:55.54) after recording 5:25.32, while Maestro had a bigger drop, from 6:15.68 to 5:28.05
In another freestyle event—the 100m—12 posted PBTs. Leading the list and also registering the fastest time was Kento Akimaru, who timed in at 1:05.68. Joining him were fellow SSC swimmers David Boyer (1:12.25), Lennosuke Suzuki (1:13.10), Taiga Sato (1:14.11), and Richard Villagomez (1:39.70), and Tsunami Saipan’s Kyona Rivera (1:21.69), Illahi (1:32.28), Angel De Jesus (1:07.56), Kenshiro Yanai (1:17.04), Nelson Battalones (1:29.69), and Sophia Gauran (1:16:79).

Meanwhile, the PBTs of other SSC and Tsunami swimmers will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Thursday edition, along with other highlights of the last local tournament of the season.