Tsunami Saipan will compete in 9 events

Tsunami Saipan swimmers will be competing in nine events in the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships at the Leo Palace Resort Swimming Pool in Guam.

Rezne Wong, Kai Staal, Shin Kimura, and Cooper Graf will be leaving for Guam today and will plunge into action on Friday during Day 2 of the six-day tournament.

Wong, the most experienced swimmer among the four Tsunami Saipan bets having competed in the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, is entered in three individual swims, while Staal will be participating in two individual races.

The 18-year-old Wong will debut in the Pan Pacific meet tomorrow, as he competes in the 100m breaststroke event. He holds the CNMI National Record in the 100m breaststroke swim with his time of 1:10.21. Wong will also swim in the 100m butterfly on Saturday and in the 200m individual medley race on Sunday.

Staal is joining sprint races, as he is entered in the 50m and 100m freestyle swim. He will compete first in the 100m freestyle tomorrow and swim in his last individual event on Saturday.

Wong and Staal were the only two CNMI swimmers who made the qualifying time for the tournament, Graf and Kimura will be joining them after Tsunami Saipan received an invitation from Japan Swim Federation to field a relay team in exhibition race.

The Tsunami Saipan quartet will be racing in the 4x200m freestyle relay tomorrow, 4x100m freestyle on Saturday, and 4x100m medley relay on Sunday.

Tsunami Saipan got a wild card in the 100m butterfly with coach Hiro Kimura fielding Graf in that event on Saturday.

Since Tsunami Saipan bets will be competing against some of the best 18-and-under swimmers in the world and future Olympians, coach Kimura is not expecting the CNMI swimmers to medal.

“Our target is to set new personal best time or break CNMI records,” Hiro said.

The Tsunami Saipan coach added the tournament in Guam will give his swimmers a clear view on how competitive their foes are and challenge the Commonwealth’s swimmer to work harder to be at the level of their opponents.

“Actually, JPP is a too high level meet for Saipan swimmers. We are not ready to swim there yet. But why are we participating? It’s because I want our swimmers to have more experience and learn a lot of things from real fast swimmers from other countries,” he said.

“I want our swimmers to see the real picture that we are still behind these swimmers. Then, they will ask themselves what they must do to be as fast as their competitors. The answer is practice more, work harder, and do your best in every training and tournament,” he added.

Besides Guam, Japan, and the CNMI, the Pan Pacific tournament will also feature swimmers from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, China, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Guatemala, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Macau, and Palau.

Pool events will start today until Jan. 11, while an open water swim is set for Jan. 12 at Tumon Bay.