4 Tsunami Saipan swimmers shine in Sak Sprint

Tsunami Saipan’s Isaiah Aleksenko set a PBT in the 100m freestyle event in the 2016 Sak Sprint Meet held late last month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Contributed Photo)

Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura took note of the performance of four of his swimmers during the 2016 Sak Sprint Meet held late last month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Isaiah Aleksenko was one of the Tsunami Saipan swimmers who left a good mark in the inaugural tournament hosted by Saipan Swim Club after setting a personal best time in the 100m freestyle. Aleksenko completed the two-lap race in 1:09.51, nearly two seconds faster than his old PBT of 1:11.48.

“He broke the 1:10 barrier even though he is still 9-years-old. His time also reached AAAA in the US age group standard time,” Kimura said.

The Tsunami Saipan swimmer joined two other races and also earned PBTs. In the 50m breaststroke, he clocked in at 47.62 seconds, surpassing his previous PBT of 48.46 seconds. In the 50m freestyle, his 32.33 seconds eclipsed his old PBT of 32.87 seconds and bested five other swimmers. Aleksenko ruled the 50m freestyle and defeated SSC’s Jinnosuke Suzuki (32. 66 seconds), teammate Anthony Camacho Deleon Guerrero (32.91 seconds), SSC’s Taiyo Akimaru (34.15 seconds), and fellow Tsunami Saipan members Sean Gil (39.17 seconds), and Arman Rechucher (40.56).

In the girls 9 to 10 age group, Ashley Dangol also duplicated Aleksenko’s AAAA mark after submitting 1:19.61 in the 100m butterfly. She crushed her PBT (1:22.91) by more than two seconds.

“It was a breakthrough for a 9-year-old swimmer,” Kimura said.

Dangol had two events in the April 23 tournament and got her second PBT after logging 32.68 seconds in the 50m freestyle. Her previous PBT read at 33.40 seconds.

Another Tsunami Saipan swimmer—Nanaka Watanabe—made a good account of herself in the girls 9 to 10 age group. Watanabe completed the 100m breaststroke in 1:32.88, shattering her old PBT of 1:33.30.

“It was so close to the CNMI age group record,” said Kimura.

The age group mark in the 100m breaststroke is 1:31.27, which Angel Marie Tan registered on Feb. 20, 2010.

In the 11 to 12 division, June Tenorio broke the 37-second barrier in the 50m backstroke after clocking in at 36.96 seconds, nearly a second faster than his previous PBT (37.79 seconds).

“With his new PBT, Juhn is in the best position to challenge Joshua Taitano’s record, which has been there since 1994,” the Tsunami Saipan coach said.

Taitano posted 34.44 seconds in the 50m backstroke on May 7, 1994 while swimming for SSC.

Besides the 50m backstroke, Tenorio also raced in the 200m backstroke where he reset his PBT, from 2:55.05 to 2:53.38.

“Our target during the sprint meet was to update personal best times. When I saw the results I was happy because we achieved our goal,” said Kimura, who is preparing his swimmers for the last local meet that will be held this Saturday and for a tournament in Guam late this month.