Swimmers net another 10 gold medals

The NMI National Swimming Team continued to dominate the aquatics competition of the 2024 Micronesian Games after adding another 10 gold and four silver medals yesterday in the Kwajalein Pool in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands.

Leading the crack NMI swimming team bereft of an actual swimming pool back home is Maria Batallones as she went a perfect 5-of-5 in her events yesterday.

She was first part of the gold medal-winning mixed 200-yard medley relay team with Kean Pajarillaga, Isaiah Aleksenko, and Frances Raho (1:44.03).

Batallones then outlasted the field with a time of 4:57.94 in the women’s 400-yard individual medley. Teammate Shoko Litulumar was second after timing in at 5:11.73.

She then sprinted to a time of 55.62 in the 100-yard freestyle to bag the gold medal before doing the same in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.05.

Batallones won her fifth gold of the day after teaming up with Raho, Litulumar, and Sari Barman to win the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 8:43.31.

“Today was my hardest competition day for this whole meet. I did five events, almost all of them being back-to-back. Today was physically tiring but I prepared myself for this day. I’m glad the results came out really good,” said Batallones.

She said the event she’s most proud of was the women’s 100-yard freestyle.

“That event was right after my 400-yard IM and I was tired but I wanted to win more than anything. It was a really close race that even I didn’t know if I was going to win. My competitors were ahead of me for a while which scared me a bit. When I saw my chance of winning during the last 25 yards I went for it, and gave it all I got. By the end of the race, we couldn’t tell who won the race. When I was told I won the race I couldn’t help but cry. I was tired but that gold was everything I wanted. I attribute my success to coach Hiro [Kimura] and Miss Yuko [Kimura], my family, my friends, and to the CNMI.”

National swimming coach Hiroyuki Kimura said Battalones just keeps on impressing them.

“She swam five events per session. No one else tried it only Maria in the all participants in this Micro Games. Then, she went on to win all events for five gold medals. She did it and swept all her events,” he said.

Kimura said Batallones did so swimming in her “not-so favorite” events.

“Maria swam against many types of swimmers today—sprinter, power swimmer, tough long -distance swimmer, etc. Maria is breaststroker so, it’s very hard to compete in her unfavorable event. However, she beat top swimmers from other countries!”

Aleksenko, meanwhile, added another four gold medals to his Micro Games haul yesterday after topping the men’s 400-yard individual medley in 3:59.68. Kouki Watanabe went silver in 4:26.01.

He also won the men’s 100-yard freestyle in 45:00 before joining Pajarillaga, Watanabe, and Justin Ma in a victory lap in the men’s 800-yard freestyle (7:16.29).

“I liked the men’s 100-yard free the most because I think it’s my strongest event out of all the events I did today,”he said.

Raho, meanwhile, won her first individual gold of the Games after topping the women’s 50-yard backstroke in a time of 28.95. Litulumar’s 29.29 was second.

“My swim was good and I am proud of my results. I am dedicating my wins to my family, friends, coaches, and swim mates. I want to thank these same people for believing in me. I also want to thank our sponsors who helped us come to the Marshall Islands,” said Raho, a 14-year-old sophomore from Marianas High School.

Kimura said he’s also proud of what Raho and Litulumar so far achieved in the Games.

“Wonderful swim for Frances. Silver medalist Shoko is also a backstroker, but swims in a completely different way. I’m very excited to watch these two types of backstrokers race in the future.”

Watanabe also earned his first individual gold in the men’s 100-yard backstroke after he touched the tile in 59.66. Pajarillaga won the CNMI’s fourth silver of the day in the men’s 50-yard backstroke.

Northern Mariana Islands Federation official Richard Sikkel said Team NMI has showed its dominance in the pool in this edition of the Micro Games.

“The entire swim team is crushing it. It is great to see all of the NMI swimmers being competitive in pretty much every event they are competing in. The team has been unbeatable in the relays so far and has collected individual medals in every event swam up to this point.”

The CNMI continued to lead the medal standings with 26 gold, 14 silver, and 10 bronze medals. Nauru is in second with a 16-10-2 gold-silver-bronze count, while host Marshall Islands complete the Top 3 with 6 gold, 5 silver, and 9 bronze.

With the 50-medal haul, Team Marianas has surpassed the 9-18-9 tally the NMI had during the 2018 Micronesian Games in Yap.