Rezne to red-shirt at UH-Manoa

Rezne Wong, the 2008 Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association Athlete of the Year, will enroll at the University of Hawaii-Manoa next school year.

The 18-year-old Marianas High School senior said while he will not officially be part of the Rainbow Warriors’ swimming team, its head coach Victor Wales allowed him to train with them as a walk-on.

“I will be training with the swim team, but I don’t have any scholarship for it. I am not fast enough for their NCAA Division I team. They have guys coming from the best high school swim teams from Florida, California, Australia, and even Italy. But I hope to improve my times, so that the following year I can get a scholarship for it,” said the stalwart of the Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan.

Wong will enroll at UH-Manoa’s Marine Biology Program as well as pursue minors in Athletic Training and Digital Arts.

He said aside from the school’s excellent swimming and academic programs, he also chose to study in UH-Manoa because Hawaii is close to Saipan and like his home islands, “the beach is only a few minutes away from the dorm I will be staying in.”

Last year was a breakout year for the son of Eli and Millet Wong, as he won the Male Athlete of the Month plum a record five times en route to the yearly NMASA Athlete of the Year award.

His first monthly award came in February when he set a CNMI 15-18 division record in the 100m breaststroke on the way to dominating the 3rd Annual Saipan Swim Club Heptathlon Virtual Meet.

Wong then won back-to-back monthly plums in April and May for excelling in meets in neighboring Guam. He first competed in the Guam Swimming Federation All Island Invitational, winning in the 200m IM and the 100m backstroke, and placing second in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle.

In the 2008 Guam Championships, he took the High Point Trophy in the open class, claiming four gold medals, three silvers, and three bronzes. The meet also saw him break the CNMI age group and national records in the 100m breaststroke.

Wong also bagged monthly honors in October in November. He topped the dual meet between Tsunami Saipan and Saipan Swim Club in October and along the way reset the CNMI age group record in the 100m breaststroke for the third time.

And in November, he broke his own record in the 100m breaststroke and finished on top of the field in the SSC All Schools Swim Meet.

Just this past two weeks, Wong spearheaded the winning relay teams in the 8th Annual XTERRA Saipan Championship and 20th Tagaman Triathlon.

Last April 18, Wong teamed up with biker Renato Calage and Matthew Mancao to top the XTERRA Saipan relay in a time of 3:29:18.

A week later on April 25, Wong, Calage, and new recruit Cesar Danao dominated the Tagaman, recording a time of 3:23:03.