SSC dominates 27th Annual Ocean Swim

(First of two parts)

Kensuke Kimura, Ilia Corella, Cooper Graf, and Nina Mosley of the Saipan Swim Club posted the fastest respective times in the 600-meter, 1,000m, 1,300m, and 2,500m open water courses during the 27th Annual Saipan Ocean Swim on Saturday in not only the youth categories, but over the entire field.

The SSC continued along the training and fund-raising trail toward the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau this past weekend as their swimmers bagged the top times through the waters of the Saipan Lagoon.

Eight-year-old Kimura’s time of 18:20 was a solid 3:25 faster than second-place finisher Andrew Johnson (21:45), and over four minutes faster than third place Jack Sharer (22:22) in the boys’ 8-and-under division, while Opal Northern (25:36) and Nicole Arenovski (25:48) took the top spots for the girls.

The stakes were raised a bit for the 9-10 year-olds, but nine-year-old Corella (20:15) rose to the challenge in the 1,000m course by edging second- place finisher Jellian Majors by two seconds (20:17), and Dominique Austin by eight tics (20:23).

Nine-year-old Mark Puno was the only boy who took part in the distance, crossing the finish line in 27:26.

The remaining swimmers between the ages of 11-62 took part in either the 1,300m or 2,500m course, and the 12-year-old Graf beat them all with two laps around the partially submerged Sherman tanks in a time of 20:46. Aloisius Troost (12) was right behind with a time of 20:54, while fellow pre-teens Blair Nichols (12) (22:42), and Shin Kimura (11) (22:50) rounded out the list of top four overall finishers, as well in the boys’ 11-12 year-old division.

Selyna Leon Guerrero was the fastest girl in the age group, as the 12-year-old hit the beach in 24:17, followed by second and third place finishers Mary Gramlich (29:42) and Mary Star Welch (29:45).

The 13-19 year-olds proved their mettle by upping the ante to the 2,500m two-lap course, and nobody cut through the water with more speed than 15-year-old Nina Mosley, who emerged from the lagoon with the day’s best time of 35:36.

Melissa Coleman (36:55) and Minerva Cabrera (37:42) were the next to cross the line in the girls’ 15-19 year-old division, but Juan Camacho (15) was the second overall with a time of 36:22, followed by top 13-14 year-old boys’ finishers Michael Camacho (14), (36:28) and Rezne Wong (13), (36:48).

The only female participant in the 13-14 year-old division posted a strong time as Amanda Johnson hit the sand in 38:11, while Chang Kim (37:02), Michael Kim (45:00), and Caleb Gabbie (53:09) rounded out the boys of the 15-19 division.