Saipan Tribune

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Thursday, January 17, 2013

PBTs pour in NMIFS meet

Personal best times were made one after another during the NMISF Swim Meet held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

In the morning session alone, 25 PBTs were registered, giving swimmers from Saipan Swim Club and Tsunami Saipan Swimmer Centre a fruitful weekend and a positive grade in the first tournament of the year and second under the sanction of Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation.

The weekend meet started with the girls 50m butterfly race with four swimmers setting PBTs. As reported earlier, Miku Tammy's 33.16 seconds in the event set a new CNMI age group record in the 9 to 10 division and a PBT, surpassing her 35.61 seconds seed time. Also tallying new PBT were Angel De Jesus, from 36.51 seconds to 34.37 seconds, Kyona Rivera (49.13/46.68), and Karen Irinaka (58.23/46.72). Aika Watanabe and Yoshino Megumi joined in their first 50m butterfly race and submitted 55.76 and 58.28 seconds, respectively.

In the boys 50m butterfly, Hiroto Yanai, Rinto Takahashi, and Michael Villagomez achieved PBTs. Yanai posted 34.32 seconds to surpass his 39.90 seconds; Takahashi clocked in at 45.40 seconds to eclipse his 46.81 seconds; and Villagomez timed in at 58.92 seconds, chopping off about six seconds from his previous PBT (1:04.55).

Kento Akimaru had the fastest time in the 50m butterfly at 33.98 seconds, while other finishers include Lennosuke Suzuki (44.02 seconds), Taiyo Akimaru (55.21), JinnoSuke Suzuki (57.40), Junh Tenorio (57.72), Kenshiro Yanai (59.03), Richard Villagomez (1:09.23), and Michail Villagomez (1:09.74).

For the second event of the day-the 100m breaststroke-Kaito Yanai set an age group record and PBT (1:15.59), while Takumi Sugie and Takahashi also marked a PBT. Sugie's 1:25.66 was more than one second faster than his previous PBT (1:27.08), while Takahashi shaved more than 15 seconds from his old PBT (2:04.83) after logging 1:49.69. Kensuke Kimura had the best time in the 100m breaststroke race with his 1:13.14, while Angel Marie Tan led the girls field with her 1:24.05. Six other swimmers completed the race.

In the third event-the 100m butterfly, only Lennosuke Suzuki and Taiga Sato raced and recorded debut times of 1:49.20 and 1:57.44, while the fourth event-the 200m freestyle saw four swimmers getting PBTs. Hiroto Yanai and Michael Villagomez earned their second PBT after clocking in at 2:27.47 (from 2:28.94) and 3:37.91 (from 3:38.22), while Michail Villagomez and Miku Torres had their firsts after submitting 3:51.82 (from 4:16.86) and 4:15.77 (from 4:28.08). Victoria Chentsova posted the fastest time in the 200m freestyle with her 2:24.80.

Chentsova finished only second behind Tan (35.12 seconds) in the 50m backstroke, but the former's 36.11 gave her a new PBT, more than two seconds faster than her old mark (38.24 seconds). Three more swimmers set new PBTs in the 50m backstroke with Kathrine Illahi timing in at 51.55 seconds (from 58.79), Aika Watanabe logging 54.62 (from 55.73) and Nanaka Watanabe recording 1:01.09 (from 1:06.00).

Kaito Yanai owned the fastest time in the 50m backstroke with his 33.70 seconds, which is also a PBT, more than one second better than his old mark (35.40). Three more swimmers in the boys race marked PBTs in the 50m backstroke. The list includes Kenshiro Yanai (from 55.76 seconds to 52.65), Taiyo Akimaru (58.89 to 58.68), and Michail Villagomez (1:08.09 to 1:06.64).

In the penultimate event of the morning session-the 200m IM-both Daime Rivera and Kento Akimaru logged the fastest marks and PBTs. Rivera led the girls race with her 3:39.05, which was more than three seconds better than her previous PBT (3:42.20). Akimaru clocked in 2:52.67 to eclipse his PBT of 2:53.29.

For the last race in the first session-the 400m freestyle-Chentsova and Sugie got another PBTs. Chentsova ruled the girls race with her 5:08.58, which was more than eight seconds faster than her old mark (5:16.62), while Sugie's 4.57.55 was also way better than his previous PBT of 5:09.00. Kimura had the best time in the final race in the morning session, clocking in at 4:26.58, while as reported earlier, Tammy set an age group mark with her 5:13.53.

Meanwhile, results of the afternoon session of the weekend meet will be reported in Saipan Tribune's Friday edition. (Saipan Tribune)