Saipan swimmers made big splash in Guam meet

Twenty swimmers from Saipan, in their first competition for the 2000/2001 season, vie against their counterparts from Guam, Korea, Japan and Hawaii for titles in the annual Guam International Swim Meet last dec. 28-29, 2000.

All swimmers swam extremely well considering the hard training with tapering up to and the day after, completing a 7,500m training session on Saturday morning upon returning to Saipan.

At the meet all swimmers achieved A or better times, especially those who had aged up over the past year and who had B or C times last year as first year swimmers.

The team has been training hard daily since August and will continue through May for more international competition.

In addition to swimmers who usually bring back awards, Seung Gin Lee 2nd, Tammy Winkfield, Dean Palacios and Myana Welch 1st place.

High Point trophies, the best performances were those swimmers who started swimming last season, and have improved their times the most since last year, mainly due to their daily training this season.

Melissa Coleman and Michael Camacho also broke into the High Point Trophy arena taking 1st and 3rd in their respective age groups. Those making the most improvements were Lily-Jean Asanuma, Minerva Cabrera, Natasha Good and Katie Nicholls, dropping a minimum of over 20 seconds in the 200m and 400m events, and 2-5 seconds in their 50m and 100m events.

These dedicated swimmers are now competitive with their results, picking up A times and bringing home medals and ribbons.

Bobby Cruz made big improvements in his Freestyle and Breaststroke events, and Jeremy Winkfield making big time drops in his Freestyle and Butterfly events, both while moving into an older age bracket.

Amanda Johnson, Rezne Wong, Nicole Calvo, Brenda Atalig, Daniel Kim and Juan Camacho all continued to improve while also moving up in older age brackets. The Saipan Swim Club also won 1st place in four relays and 2nd in two others.

Swim 21 and Suwon Swim Club, both of Korea brought their strongest swimmers in the 10 and under and 12 and under age groups, while Japan’s 14 and under gave Dean Palacios a run for his money. In the Open Division Gin Lee had to battle Guam’s Brendan Spencer and Hawaii’s Jade Heine (formerly of Guam and the Marshall Islands).

Saipan’s newest swimmers will have their first taste of off island competition January 19-20, 2001 when they venture to Guam for the teams next meet. The Saipan Swim Club acknowledges the cooperation of Continental Airlines for providing special fare packages for the teams’ travel.