Kimura and Corella lead SSC

The results from last month’s virtual meet have finally been tabulated, and Ken Kimura and Ilia Corella of the Saipan Swim Club finished atop the international standings, beating out 120 swimmers from the CNMI, Singapore, and Australia.

Kimura was the first to tap the wall in two of his three races, and finished with a total of 59 points, while Corella was the swiftest swimmer in three of her four races, and took home 53 points.

Eight-year-old Kimura finished second in the 200-meter freestyle race with a time of 3:15.67 behind Alec Morris of Singapore (3:14.10), but was the only sub-minute competitor as he beat all comers in the 50m breaststroke with a 53.18. Kimura also garnered first place points when he swam unopposed in the 200m breaststroke (4:12.53).

Corella led the Saipan sweep of the Top 3 finishers in the 200m freestyle, as the nine-year-old completed four lengths of the pool in 3:13.81, ahead of teammates Ashley Northern (3:53.85), and Madea Troost (4:12.41).

Andrea Olafson (1:45.19) of Singapore bested Corella (1:46. 61) in the 100m backstroke little more than a second, but the local swimmer got her revenge in the 50m backstroke (48.16) and the 200m IM (3:51.25).

While the SSC once again posted a strong showing during the virtual meet, their 1,212-point total was only good enough for a second-place finish behind Singapore (1,384). Saipan was represented by 50 swimmers on race day, compared to Singapore’s 63, but adding to the disadvantage was the absence of some of the club’s rising stars.

The athletes who attended the event represented the CNMI proudly, as the local team finished the meet with the highest average point total per swimmer (24.24). The Southern Cross Dragons from Singapore averaged 21.97 per swimmer, while the Casuarina team from the Northern Territory of Australia averaged 17.67.

Kimura and Corella weren’t the only top performers for the SSC, as Marina “The Little Fire Plug” KaKu (46), Clay McCullough-Stearns (44), Nina Mosley (36), Melissa Coleman (36), En Hong Pang (36) and Rezne Wong (36) all finished with point totals in the Top 14.

The next virtual meet for the SSC is this Friday, Feb. 18, at the Kan Pacific Pool in Marpi at 8am. On Saturday, the team will have its annual pentathlon at the facility, as the 12-and-under swimmers will compete in the 50m lengths of the freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, and the 200m IM, while the children 13-and-over will traverse 100m distances in addition to the 200m IM.