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Top 3 finish for SSC swimmers
Saipan Swim Club’s Lennosuke Suzuki, seen here in a local meet last month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi, finished second overall in the boys 13 to 14 age group competition in the 2017 TAS Tigersharks Invitational Swim held over the weekend at the Taipei American School’s Ira B. Weislow Aquatics Center in Taiwan. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Saipan Swim Club’s Jinnosuke and Lennosuke Suzuki and Kento Akimaru made it to the podium of the 2017 TAS Tigersharks Invitational Swim held over the weekend at the Taipei American School’s Ira B. Weislow Aquatics Center in Taiwan.
Jinnosuke placed runner-up in the boys 11 to 12 age group (overall high-point race), besting more than 20 swimmers in his division. Lennosuke duplicated his younger brother’s feat after being ranked at No. 2 in the boys 13 to 14 division, which also drew more than 20 swimmers from multiple teams from Taiwan, Singapore, China, Japan, and Hong Kong. Akimaru, on the other hand, took the third place honors in the very competitive over 15 age group.
The 12-year-old Jinnozuke got off to a good start, as he won his first event in short course (25m) competition. The SSC swimmer topped the 400m freestyle event after clocking in at 4:37.05, way ahead of runner-up and Abc Swimming Club’s Derek Wu, who submitted 4:48.05.
The younger Suzuki, who collected 97 points from the six events he joined, also finished first in the 100m (1;01.11) and 200m (2:10.40) freestyle swims and 200m individual medley (2:31.39). He placed second in the 100m IM (1:11.40) and fourth in the boys over 15’s 200m freestyle relay (with Akimaru, Lennosuke, and David Boyer). The SSC bet lost by only 3 points against Shanghai International School’s Jerry Yan.
The older Suzuki also had first place finishes in the 200m IM (2:27.88) and ranked second in the 100m breaststroke (1:18.77), 200m freestyle (2:04.24), and 50m freestyle (26.52 seconds) to gain 86 points. TAS Tigersharks’ Hironori Kondo ruled the age group after getting 100 points, while his teammate Ethan Dawn completed the Top 3 after tallying 84 markers.
In the over 15 races, Kento came in at second in the 200m IM (1:03.08), 100m freestyle (55.38 seconds), 50m freestyle (25.18 seconds), and 100m IM (1:01.20) for a division third-best 88 points. Brandon Huang and Jason Chang gave Shanghai a 1-2 finish after registering 100 and 93 points.
The Top 3 placers in each age group received trophies.
In the team rankings, host TAS delivered as expected with its 3,840 points and was joined in the Top 3 by Shanghai (3,403), and Western Academy of Beiing (2,321.50). SSC, which had the smallest team in the competition with its eight swimmers, placed ninth after earning 595 points.
Taiyo Akimaru, Jinju Thompson, Sophia Gauran, David Boyer, and Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero are the other members of the SSC crew and results of their races will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Friday edition. SSC head coach Jacoby Winkfield accompanied the young swimmers to Taiwan for the three-day event.
