Wong resets 100m breaststroke mark

  CNMI swimmer Rezne Wong had a fruitful stint in last week’s 9th Oceania Swimming Championships in New Caledonia as he reset the Commonwealth’s record in the 100m breaststroke event and made it to the finals of six individual races.

Wong’s new record in the 100m breaststroke was posted on May 30 during the second day of the competition held at the Guy Verlaguet pool in Dumbéa. He timed in at 1:07.29 in the finals of the 100m breaststroke race, eclipsing the 1:07.66 he logged on Aug. 16, 2011 in the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China. The new record is not yet official and has to be certified by the Northern Marianas Swimming Federation.

The University of Hawaii swimmer qualified for the finals of the 100m breaststroke after placing fifth in the prelims with a time of 1:08.60. New Caledonia’s Thomas Dahlia had the fastest qualifying time at 1:04.49 and also won in the finals (1:03.27). In the finals, Wong placed fifth, beating qualifiers from the host, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.

The 21-year-old Wong started his campaign in the 16-nation tournament via the 50m butterfly race where he timed in at 26.91 seconds, finished at No. 14 out of 24 swimmers, and advanced to the B Finals. In the finals, Wong had a faster time of 26.82 seconds to place third. PNG Olympian Ryan Pini ruled the event (A Finals) with a time of 24.41 seconds, beating Australia’s Daniel Lester (24.45 seconds).

After his record swim in the second day of the tournament that ran from May 28 to June 2, Wong returned to the pool last Thursday for the 50m breaststroke race where this time he moved into the A Finals. The Marianas High School graduate completed the preliminary race in 31.97 seconds and then swam faster in the finale with his 31.54 seconds (sixth place).

Wong also joined the prelims in the 100m butterfly event last Thursday and submitted 1:01.31 (ranked No. 10 out of 17 swimmers) to qualify for the B Finals. In the B Finals, Wong almost broke the one-minute barrier, as he recorded 1:00.50 and finish second behind New Caledonia’s Theo Jambet (59.70 seconds).

In the final day of the swimming competition last Friday, the 2010 Micronesian Games’ top male athlete joined two more races and also figured in the finals. He submitted 2:10.72 in the 200m individual medley prelims for fifth place overall (out of 19 swimmers) and then logged 2:11.34 in the A Finals to retain the No. 5 spot and beat swimmers from New Caledonia, Hawaii, and PNG. Kenneth To of Australia (2:01.35) ruled the event.

For his last race-the 200m breaststroke-Wong clocked in at 2:38.61 in the preliminary to place seventh and qualify in the finals. In the finale, Wong chopped off more than 12 seconds from his qualifying time after tallying 2:26.30. Nicholas Schafer of Australia (2:16.67) won the event.