NMI’s golden child looks to future

KOROR, Palau—After spending the first week of the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games anchoring the CNMI’s swim team to an eye-popping 26 medals, 15-year-old Nina Mosley finally had time to relax Sunday.

The Marianas Baptist Academy student, who finished her Mini Games campaign with 12 medals, said she is ready to take a brief break from the sport she loves, but will return and work toward her dream of one day competing in the Olympics as a member of the U.S. swim team.

“I’d love to compete in the Olympics for the U.S. Olympic team,” she said “I’m not really sure right now [because] I got a lot of stuff to work on, but swimming in college is something that I’m really excited about. The Olympics is a pretty big goal, so we’ll see what happens in the next couple of years.”

Mosley won two gold, eight silver, and two bronze medals during her stay in Palau, capping her impressive charge by earning silver in the 5K Open Water Swim. Mosley hurt her back shortly after the race; however, she is well on her way to a full recovery.

“The ocean swim was a lot of fun, but I was a little bit scared at first because some people said there were crocodiles and sharks, and I’m not a really big fan of that, but it was just a lot of fun,” she said. “At the end I did screw up my back I guess I stood up too fast and had back spasms and it hurt real bad. “It still kind a sore but icing and stretching should get it back to normal.”

Mosley, who accounted for both gold medals the CNMI has won so far, took home her first on opening night and her second during the conclusion of events at the Palau National Swimming Pool.

She bagged gold in the 100m Freestyle courtesy of a swim time of 1:00.04 on July 25, and struck gold again in the 50m Freestyle after clocking in at 28.09 on Friday.

She earned silver in the women’s 200m Freestyle, and settled for silver after leading for most parts of the 400m Freestyle. She also took silver in the 100m Backstroke, as well as the 50m Butterfly

She teamed with 13-year-old Amanda Johnson, Nicole Calvo, and Melissa Coleman to take home the silver in the women’s 800m Freestyle Relay. She also joined forces with Coleman, Minerva Cabrera, and Calvo to take silver in the 400m Freestyle Relay. Welch, Cabrera, Johnson, and Mosley racked up another silver in the 400m Medley Relay.

Mosley also took the bronze in the 200m Backstroke and the 400m Individual Medley.

“I was way over my expectations,” Mosley said of her performances. “At first, I said one medal was good enough for me, and then I started raising the bar a little bit and I said four, and that was my main goal and [now] I’m coming home with 12 so I am very excited and happy.”

Mosley also explained that she is satisfied with her effort and performance, citing that despite medaling in the Arafura Games, she believed she was not on top of her game .

“I think for this entire year, I think this is really good,” she said. “I’m giving myself a pat on the back because even at the Arafura Games, I did well but I told myself that I didn’t do good enough, and my parents keep telling me I’m beating myself down and I just kept doing that. Now, I just can’t beat myself down because I performed way over my expectation.”

Overall, Mosley was satisfied with the Games.

“It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed hanging out with my teammates. The competition is great and meeting a lot of new people is exciting for me too,” she said.

Mosley, as well as all but David Palacios in the swim team, boarded a plane last night for Saipan.

Mosley said swimming has changed her life and also explained that despite sometimes feeling she’s about ready to throw in the towel, she knows that the sport will most likely always be a passion.

“Over the years, I think swimming has boosted my self confidence because before, I was really shy and never really liked to do anything…just the other day I was dancing in the cafeteria…so it has boosted my self confidence, self esteem, and everything,” she said.

“I’ll take a month or two off and might come back and start swimming because before I started training for the [Mini Games], there were a lot of pre-meet nerves and I told myself that after I’m going to quit swimming. I guess that maybe after a couple of weeks, though, I’m going to start feeling that drive again and I need to get back in the pool,” she added, noting that taking a break will probably help due to the intense preparations for the Games.

Mosley also explained that she receives great support from family and friends, and is very appreciative of it.

“All my friends are really supportive, especially the ones on the swim team. My family…if I decide to take a break from swimming or decide to do another sport, they’re down with that and I’m very thankful for my parents and especially all my swim teammates,” she said.

She said she still does not really know why she swims—only indicating that success over the years boosted her interest in continuing with the sport.

“I never really know why I swim. There are so many sports that I could choose from and I guess swimming started out as something that I saw my friends doing, and after I realized that I started breaking a couple of records, I was like ‘maybe I should do this more often,’ so I started coming to more practices and stopped volleyball and running and everything and decided to stick to swimming.”

Another tough obstacle for the young sensation was balancing her studies with swim training.

“It was kind of tough balancing school and swimming, but I managed to get through it, so this year I really need to pound on my school work and swimming and see where it takes me,” she said.

Aside from swimming, Mosley also enjoys volleyball, running, basketball, as well as watching rugby, baseball, and football.