Tsunami Saipan swimmers make grade

Tsunami Saipan swimmers pose for a group photo after the NMISF swim meet last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Contributed Photo)

Seventeen Tsunami Saipan members achieved their goal in the 2015-2016 NMISF Open Swim Meet held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Coach Hiro Kimura said his swimmers targeted at least BB times in their respective events to qualify for a meet in Guam this May.

“Meeting the standard time in their events was important for our swimmers because it would mean they could compete in the Guam Championships,” said Kimura.

The benchmark that the club us using is based on the U.S.A Swimming age group time standards designed to encourage age group swimmers to step their swimming up to the next level. The highest grade is AAAA and the lowest is B.

Ashley Dangol was among the 17 Tsunami Saipan swimmers who made the grade, recording AAAA times in the 50m and 100m butterfly. The 9-year-old swimmer ruled the 9 to 10’s 50m butterfly after clocking in at 35.36 seconds and timed in at 1:21.05 in the 100m butterfly.

Other Tsunami Saipan swimmers who earned at least A times were Nanaka and Aika Watanabe, Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero, Miku Tammy, Isaiah Aleksenko, Hans Xu, and Mark Maestro.

Nanaka got B times in the 9 to 10’s 50m breaststroke (43.26 seconds) and 100m breaststroke (1:33.30), while Camacho-Deleon Guerrero did the same in the 50m freestyle (33.39 seconds) and 50m butterfly (36.10 seconds).

Nanaka’s times are close to CNMI records. She has a strong chance to get CNMI records in December. We are looking forward to seeing Nanaka’s record breaking show. Anthony did not come to many practices because of different reasons. In the split, he put out a good time. Finally, he is now focusing to practice and we look forward to his success,” Kimura said.

Tammy raced in the 13 to 14 age group and bagged AA times in the 50m butterfly (32.58 seconds or .10 of a second behind the CNMI age group record) and 100m backstroke (1:18.22), while 9 to 10 division’s Aleksenko and Xu had similar achievements in the 50m butterfly (36.67 seconds) and 50m freestyle (33.99 seconds) and 50m backstroke (41.68 seconds) and 100m backstroke (1:29.92), respectively.

Maestro also competed in the 50m backstroke and posted an A mark with his 38.62 seconds, while Aika’s A times were registered in the 50m backstroke (38.60 seconds), 100m backstroke (1:25.64), and 50m freestyle (33.52 seconds).

Nine other Tsunami Saipan swimmers earned slots for the Guam meet with Nelson Batallones, Juhn Tenorio, Asaka and Shoko Litulumar, Ayumi Obligacion, Arman Rechucher, and Aasish Dangol marking BB times and Takumi Sugie and Angel De Jesus placing first in the 50m freestyle.

“We will try to have more qualifiers in the upcoming tournaments,” Kimura said.