Schools pin hopes on SSC swimmers

Tomorrow’s 12th staging of the All Schools Swimming Championships at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi is one of those rare occasions that Saipan Swim Club members will be swimming against each other instead of rooting for one another.

In the elementary division, Whispering Palms School will be hard-pressed to defend its title after the departure of key members.

Coach Jeff Race, however, said that his team would not go down without a fight. He said he is pinning his hopes this year on wunderkind Ilia Corella and Ella and Clay McCullough-Stearns, who are both avid triathletes.

Saipan International School, for its part, hopes to reclaim the championship it lost a year ago with a stable of SSC swimmers like Jellian Majors, Andrew Johnson, Bradley Brostrom, and Jack Wu.

Mount Carmel is also expected to field a competitive team. Among their swimmers are Alicia and Albert Yen. A home school team would also participate this year made up of Andrew and Grace Kimbal.

In the junior high division, defending champion Saipan International School is bent in keeping the title. Coach Betty Johnson said her swimmers are led by a trio of Johsnons – Amanda, Katy, and Sarah. Also in the team are Annie Camacho and Selyna De Leon Guerrero.

John Benavente and Ben Babauta, for their part, spearhead Mount Carmel’s campaign.

Marianas Baptist Academy, meanwhile, is the team to beat in the high school division. Coach Stan Good is leaving no stone unturned and is fielding a veritable all-star cast made up of Nina Mosley, Juan Camacho, Nicole Calvo, and her own kids Myana Welch and Natasha Good.

The All Schools Swimming Championships is open to all public and private schools in the CNMI. Participants in the elementary division should not be older than 12 years old, swimmers in the junior high should not be older than 14 years old, while those entered for the high school division must not be past their 18th birthday.

The winning schools for each division get to bring home perpetual trophies to their respective campuses and there they will stay until the next All Schools Swimming Championships.

Last year, Whispering Palms School topped the elementary division upsetting perennial champion Saipan International School. The ousted 12-and-under division champions, however, didn’t let their disappointment carry over in the next two divisions, as it walloped rivals Saipan Community School, Mt. Carmel High School, Calvary Christian School and Marianas Baptist Academy to win the junior high and high schools divisions.