NMI swimmers compete in Sydney

Six swimmers represented the Northern Marianas in the 6th Pacific School Games held at Homebush, in Sydney, Australia where the Sydney Olympics will be held in a couple of months. Athletics, diving, gymnastics and swimming were contested by 40 countries, with 22 competed in swimming.

The first Pacific School Games were held in 1982 in Brisbane as part of a build up for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games, and now this Pacific School Games were used as a tuneup for the Sydney Olympics showcasing the best student athletes from the Asia Pacific region.
Over 3000 student athletes between the ages of 10 and 19 years competed in the above events, several of whom will represent their respective countries in the upcoming Olympic Games.

Myana Welch, Quincy Johnson, Jill Pierce, Tamiko Winkfield, Tracy Feger and Seung Gin Lee swam some of their best times in the Olympic Pool at Home bush. Seung Gin and Tamiko had a great meet by swimming mostly personal best times, both dropping several seconds in some of their events, especially in the freestyle events.

Myana swam a couple good events in the 200 Freestyle and the 50 and 100 Backstroke events, Tracy in the Backstroke events, Jill in her Freestyle, and Quincy although performing all his best times, still found themselves in the bottom half of the bracket.
Competition was extremely tough especially from the Australian Sates, South Africa, China and the Philippines.

The athletes were homestayed with Australian families and learned much about the Australian way of life as well as getting a taste of vegemite, weet a bix, and the Australian language. Their families took them to see the Koala Bears and Kangaroos, as well as the sites of Sydney. Some did not want to come home.

The daily schedule was extremely tight as the swimmers competed with trials in the morning until about 1:00pm then finals in the afternoon, and some training every day. Then it was home in the evenings by bus with other teams that were also staying in the same town.
Eighteen thousand young students performed in the opening ceremonies with marching bands, choirs, leading youth vocalists, and other students presented the wonderful images of Australia.

The next PSG will be held in Melbourne in 2005.

Results:

Tracy Feger(17) 200 IM 2:46.01, 100 Fr 1:06.83, 400 Free 5:13.77, 200 Bk 2:39.40. 50 Fly 33.91, 50 Bk 35.53, 100 Fly 1:14.61, 200 Fr 2:23.62, 100 Bk 1:14.51 and 50 Fr 30.54.

Quincy Johnson(11) 50 Bk 40.34, 200 IM 3:11.43, 100 Fr DQ, 100 Bk 1:27.76. 200 Fr 2:44.70, 50 Fr 34.22, 50 Br 47.64, and 50 Fly 39.19

Seung Gin Lee(15) 50 Br 39.40, 50 Fr 32.28, 100 Br 1:22.99, 200 Fr 2:12.49, 100 Bk 1:07.99, 200 IM 2:26.12, 100 Fr 58.34, 100 Br 58.34, 100 Br 1:21.67, 200 Bk 2:29.34 and 100 Fly 1:05.98.

Jill Pierce (15) 50 Br 39.40, 50 Fr 32.28, 100 Br 1:22.99, 200 Fr 2:31.39, 200 IM 2:51.71, 100 Fr 1:10.60, 50 Fly 35.22 and 200 Br 2:58.40.

Myana Welch (10) 100 Fr DQ, 200 Fr 2:46.59, 200 IM DQ, 100 Bk 1:27.64, 100 Br 1:35.90, 50 Bk 39.50, 50 Fly 39.74 and 50 Fr DQ.

Tamiko Winkfield (14) 50 Br 39.77, 50 Fr 30.64, 400 Fr 4:58.74, 200 Fr 2:20.98, 100 Bk 1:23.29, 200 IM 2:47.43, 100 Fr 1:06.90, 50 Fly 35.22 and 100 Fly 1:18.80.

The final event this season for NMI swimmers will be the Oceania Swimming Championships that will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, June 21-24, 2000.