Saipan Tribune

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Friday, February 22, 2013

Tammy resets age group mark

Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center's Miku Tammy posted the lone CNMI age group mark made in Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation's third meet held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool last Saturday.

The Tsunami Saipan swimmer timed in at 10:41.53 in the 800m freestyle, crushing the old girls 9 to 10 CNMI age group mark (11:49.95), which she incidentally logged on Jan. 21, 2012. Tammy is only 10 years old, but her record in her age group is faster than the girls 11 to 12 mark (10:51.15), which Saipan Swim Club's Myana Welch tallied on Nov. 10, 2011.

Besides Tammy, Victoria Chentsova also raced in the 800m freestyle and gained one of the 25 PBTs recorded in the last four events of the weekend meet. Chentsova completed her longest race of the day at the 10:34.21 mark, shaving more than 25 seconds from his old PBT of 11:00.94.

Duplicating Chentsova's feat in the 800m were Tsunami Saipan's Hiroto and Ryuto Yanai. The older Hiroto clocked in at 10:40.78, surpassing his PBT of 11:05.24, while Ryuto timed in at 11:29.27 to shatter his previous PBT of 11:50.63.

Not to be outdone was Ryuto and Hiroto's oldest brother Kaito, who finished the 1,500m freestyle event in 19:03.82, more than a second faster than his old PBT of 20:05.21. Kaito's fellow Tsunami Saipan swimmer Kensuke Kimura and Takumi Sugie also set new PBTs after posting 17:45.41 (from 18:14.65) and 19:09.73 (from 20:01.98), respectively.

Meanwhile, before the long distance races, sprints events were first held in the second half of the NMISF-sanctioned meet.

In the girls 50m breaststroke, siblings Daime and Kyona Rivera of Tsunami Saipan earned the Top 2 fastest times and also got PBTs with their 44.81 and 50.83 seconds, respectively. Sophia Gauran was the third Tsunami Saipan bet in the event to notch a PBT with her 57.66 seconds, way faster than her seed time of 1:13.43.

In the boys 50m breaststroke, more swimmers received PBTs with SSC's Akira Kadokura leading five others. Kadokura timed in a field best of 53.96 seconds, eclipsing her 56.47 seconds, while Tsunami's Mark Maestro (54.28 seconds) and Kenshiro Yanai (54.87 seconds) and SSC's Ichiro Borja (56.57 seconds), Jinnosuke Suzuki (1:00.39), and Richard Villagomez (1:15.14) also set new PBTs.

In another sprint event-the 50m freestyle-nine swimmers gained PBTs. In the girls U8 division, SSC's Susan Villagomez made the lone PBT with her 1:06.82 (from 1:09.07) and had the second fastest time behind teammate Jinie Thompson (59.56 seconds).

In the 9 to 10 race, Aika Watanabe placed only second to Jin Ju Thompson (41.90 seconds), but the former's 47.40 second was good enough for a new PBT, eclipsing her 48.38 seconds. Tsunami's Kathrine Illahi and Chentsova recorded the two other PBTs in the girls 50m freestyle race after clocking in at 44.97 seconds and 30.52 seconds, respectively.

In the boys U8 division, Tsunami's Juhn Tenorio and Hans Xu finished in the Top 2 and also recorded PBTs with the former posting 42.46 seconds and the latter breaking the one-minute barrier, too, with his 57.28 seconds.

In the boys U10, Michail Villagomez led seven others and also hit a PBT with his 43.39 seconds, more than one second faster than his old mark of 44.81 seconds. Tsunami's Tichicus Xu placed only fifth in the race, but got a PBT (55.61 seconds), while SSC's Kento Akimaru had the fastest and a PBT in the 11 to 12 age group with his 30.96 seconds.