Palacios wants to make Stanford team
National swimmer Dean Palacios is headed for Stanford University.
While there, the shy 17-year-old graduate of the Marianas Baptist Academy hopes to make it to the school’s swimming team, which is one of the elite programs in the country and has been ranked among the top three teams the past 10 years.
“Our orientation is this September 20. I’m not sure yet what degree I’ll be taking up. But I surely would like to tryout for the (swim) team. It’s great to study and possibly swim for Stanford,” he said in a recent interview.
Palacios reportedly is on a partial academic scholarship to the California school.
Saipan Swim Club founder Bill Sakovich said he is happy with Palacios getting a shot at swimming for a national powerhouse.
“The opportunity to swim for a nationally-ranked team is a very big opportunity. If he trains well, his chances are really good as long as he’s committed. As long as he does some training, I don’t see him having a problem getting on the team,” said Sakovich.
He said Palacios didn’t get any instruction on what level he should be at the tryouts, but the assistant coach of Stanford clearly indicated that the swimmer should really be in excellent shape and show improved times.
Sakovich also said that the CNMI also stands to benefit with Palacios training with the Stanford swim team.
“It’s such a good opportunity for him to train with them so he’d be in shape for future events for the CNMI. The Micronesian Games, the South Pacific Games, these are just a few of the competitions we would like to send him to if he’s training, if he’s not then we won’t send him because he’s the closest one that could qualify,” he said.
Palacios has been the most dominant swimmer the CNMI has had in recent years. Just last year, he raked in most of the national awards and won the Commonwealth’s only silver medal in the 2003 South Pacific Games held in Suva, Fiji.
“I think the silver medal in the SPG was Dean’s best performance as a swimmer. That’s one of the most competitive events he has been in. And he was also in the World Swimming Championships in Spain last year. He also did his best there,” added Sakovich.
Fueled by his triumph in the SPG, Palacios got the nod for NMASA Male Athlete of the Year in 2003 .
Last year also saw Palacios compete in a couple of regional events in Australia, where he won a total of one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals.
“He’s progressed all along. He has done very well since I first trained him along with his brother David. This year was pretty slow because he had so much to do in school. But he really had many academic commitments that he didn’t had a chance to,” said Sakovich.
Sakovich incidentally bid adieu to Saipan last Monday after his family made the island their home the last 30 years.
