CNMI nearly sweeps swimming events

The CNMI National Swimming Team topped nine out of the 11 events at stake for an amazing nine-gold medal haul in Day 3 of the 2024 Micronesian Games yesterday at the Kwajalein Pool in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands.

– – –

Team Marianas has already earned 16 gold medals just three days into the competition in the 2024 Micronesian Games in the Marshall Islands, surpassing its record in the 2018 edition of the event held in Yap.

NMI swimmers and weightlifters contributed to Team Marianas’ strong showing last Monday with the former adding nine gold medals, four silvers, and three bronzes and the latter gaining three gold medals, two silvers, and a bronze.

After Day 3, Team Marianas’ medal tally is now at 16-7-5 for a total of 28. In the 2018 Micronesian Games, NMI athletes went home with nine golds, 18 silvers, and nine bronze for a total of 36 and a fifth-place finish in the medal standings. Pending the results of the other weight classes in the weightlifting competition yesterday, Team Marianas total gold medals of 16 leads the field.

– – –

Kean Pajarillaga, Kouki Watanabe, Isaiah Aleksenko, and Michael Miller struck first after dominating the men’s 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:37.09. Palau and Pohnpei settled for the bronze and silver, respectively.

The women’s 200-yard medley relay team of Frances Raho, Maria Batallones, Sari Barman, and Shoko Litulumar quickly followed suit with a gold medal-winning swim of 1:53.99 to beat second place and host Marshall Islands and third place Pohnpei.

Aleksenko then flexed his considerable wingspan in topping the men’s 50-yard butterfly with a time of 21:59.

After Batallones settled for silver in the women’s 50-yard butterfly after losing to Marshall Islands’ Ann-Marie Hepler, 27:30-27:59, Pajarillaga reasserted the CNMI’s dominance in the men’s 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:45.28.

Batallones redeemed herself in the women’s 200-yard freestyle with a first-place time of 2:04.37. Raho bagged the bronze in 2:07.30. Pajarillaga was it again in the men’s 100-yard backstroke, churning out another golden performance after touching the tile in 53:61. Justin Ma got another bronze in his first off-island competition with a time of 1:00.77.

Litulumar and Raho then finished 1-2 in the women’s 100-yard backstroke after clocking in at 1:03.86 and 1:04.21, respectively.

Litulumar got a silver too in the women’s 200yd butterfly (2:42.73), while Maria Guerrero took the bronze (2:43.85). Palau’s Misech Dirngulbai was golden in 2:35.48.

Aleksenko gave Team NMI its eighth gold medal by crushing the competition in the men’s 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:45:45. Watanabe gave the CNMI silver with a swim of 2:03.00.

Finally, Batallones, Pajarillaga, Raho, and Alekensko concluded the CNMI’s gold rush yesterday with a swim of 3:27.70 in the Mixed 400 Yard Freestyle Relay.

CNMI National Swimming Team coach Hiroyuki Kimura remained lowkey despite the medal rush in the first two days of swimming competition.

“I’m so happy but I think this is an expected result. Because the amount of practice that swimmers have and the hardness of their practice is amazing—practice never betrays young athletes!” he said.

As for the best performance of Day 2 of the swimming competition, Kimura said he would have to go with Aleksenko’s.

“Because his 200-yard butterfly was much, much faster than his university’s team of 1:54.65,” he said. The Marianas High School recent graduate has committed to Keiser University.

Kimura also gave kudos to Ma’s, so far, surprising debut in the 2024 Micronesian Games.

“Because he won bronze in the 100-yard backstroke. Please let me say again and again, for Justin, this Micro Games is his first international meet and first time to represent the CNMI!”

Aleksenko, for his part, said he’s happy with his gold medals and hopes he could win more. He went on to dedicate them, “to God, my mom, my family, my coach, Miss Yuko, and my friends and teammates.”

Pajarillaga, meanwhile, said he’s pretty satisfied with his 200-yard freestyle swim. “However, I wanted to get a faster time for my 100-yard backstroke because my time was pretty slow. For the relays I felt tired but I still did my best and we got gold for both of the relays.”

Last but not the least, Batallones simply said Day 3 was a great day for her. “I swam with really fast times that I even surprised myself with. Winning both relays today felt amazing. I believed in myself and in my team and I’m glad we’ve been winning nothing but gold so far. As of my individual events, I feel like I should’ve done better for my 50-yard butterfly. I did avenge myself with another gold for my 200-yard freestyle so I’m really happy about that. It’s tiring everyday, but I know Team NMI swimmers got this!”