US prep school interested in Isaiah

Aleksenko

At 16 years old and a junior at Marianas High School, Isaiah Aleksenko has yet to seriously think about what school he will attend in college.

But a couple of years before graduating from secondary school, the Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center stalwart received an offer to continue his high school education in the U.S. mainland.

The offer from a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based educational college-preparatory school comes in the heels of Aleksenko’s impressive performance in the 2022 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia where he broke four CNMI national records.

“I was very surprised because this was the first time I had a school offer me to go to their school. I’m not yet ready to take a step like this because this is a high school and I’m not ready to leave my mom behind and not be able to see her for five years. I hope after the next World Championships in Japan, I can have more opportunities and offers to go to colleges,” said Aleksenko.

Tsunami Saipan coach Hiroyuki Kimura said the offer from a leading preparatory school in the U.S. only means that Aleksenko’s hard work is finally paying off.

“This means Isaiah’s name is known to coaches in the U.S. mainland. A couple of other college coaches also came to talk to me in Melbourne. I’m so glad that Isaiah, even at a young age, is already bringing honor to the CNMI.”

Kimura, however, said that the offer from the preparatory school is only the start.

“Melbourne is just the prologue. Isaiah’s great adventure is just beginning. If we practice harder and harder, we will be able to show better performances and other coaches will become more interested in him.”

Aleksenko broke four NMI records—the 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 50m freestyle, and 50m backstroke—in last year’s short course championships.

He swam the 100m butterfly in 54.55 to break the 1:00.07 set by David Palacios in the 2005 Pacific Mini Games in Palau in July 2005.

Aleksenko swam the 200m butterfly in 2:02.96 to reset the 2:15.09 recorded by Rezne Wong in the 2010 Micronesian Games in Palau in March 2010.

He swam the 50m freestyle 23.31 to top Juhn Tenorio’s 23.97 he swam in the FINA World Championships in Abu Dhabi in December 2021.

Finally, Aleksenko finished the 50m backstroke in 25.84 to break the 25.91 Kensuke Kimura swam in the Mie Winter Meet in Aichi, Japan in February
2018.

He then teamed up with Suzuki, Batallones, and Shoko Litulumar to reset the CNMI nation record in the 50m x 4 mixed free relay by swimming it in 1:46.79. That broke the 1:50.09 set last year in the FINA World Championships in Abu Dhabi by Tenorio, Suzuki, Asaka Litulumar, and Shoko Litulumar.

Aleksenko, Suzuki, Batallones, and Shoko Litulumar also reset the mark in the 50m x 4 mixed medley relay when they swam it in 1:58.93.
The old mark of 2:09.28 was set in the 2019 Micronesian Swimming Championships in Palau in April 2019 by Lennosuke Suzuki, Juhn Tenorio, Aika Watanabe, and Sophia Gauran.