Sakovich: Tall order for swimming in Palau

Swimming, the Commonwealth’s most bemedaled sports in both the South Pacific Games and Micronesian Games, would be hard pressed to win a medal especially if 2003 SPG silver medalist Dean Palacios decides not to go to Palau.

This was the assessment made recently by Saipan Swim Club founder and Hall of Fame inductee Bill Sakovich, who returned to Saipan early this month to attend to a number of sports events.

“Medaling? I’m not really sure especially if Dean is out because he would’ve been a sure thing. Nina [Mosley] should final. I would sure hope some of the other girls would also. Melissa [Coleman] I understand is going to do both triathlon and swimming, so I certainly hope her the best,” he said.

Although, he hasn’t heard from Palacios for some time now, Sakovich admitted that he had a strong feeling the Marianas Baptist Academy alumnus would not be able to represent the CNMI in the 2005 Mini Games after he went off to college in the U.S.

He said it is in Palacios’ character to prioritize school above everything else. The many-time national swimmer is a freshman at Stanford University. Earlier reports allude to the 18-year-old foregoing the Palau stint to concentrate on his studies.

Sakovich said as presently constituted, the CNMI would be sending a very young and raw swimming team to Palau. He said that they would be going up against seasoned tankers from powerhouse teams New Caledonia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and possibly Tahiti, which has not yet confirmed its participation in the quadrennial event.

Sakovich also said he is delighted with the marked improvements shown by his former wards in the SSC and is happy about the innovations introduced by new coach Michael Stewart.

He said swimming is in good hands in the CNMI and again reiterated that Stewart is a wizard when it comes to teaching swimming techniques to the “kids.”

With Palacios still mulling his decision for the Mini Games and his brother David already confirming he won’t be donning the national colors to take on a new job, the list of swimmers Stewart has for Palau is down to nine.

They are Mosley, Coleman, Juan Camacho, Minerva Cabrera, Nicole Calvo, Amanda Johnson, Michael Camacho, Myana Welch, and Rezne Wong.

With the exception of Mosley, Cabrera, and Coleman, the rest will be making their SPG and Mini Games debuts in Palau. Mosley, Cabrera, and Coleman saw action with the Palacios brothers in the last SPG in Fiji.

In the 2003 Suva SPG, the then 16-year-old Dean Palacios made his home islands proud when he swam the 400m individual medley in a time of 4:50.31 to finish second only behind New Caledonia’s Oliver Saminadan. His time was also a new national and age group record for the CNMI.

That year also saw Palacios compete in a couple of regional events in Australia and in the World Swim Championships in Spain. He won a gold, a silver, and three bronze medals in the Tasmanian Swim Championships.

With those accomplishments, as well as NMASA Male Athlete of the Month honors in January and July, Palacios went on to win the governing sport body’s prestigious Athlete of the Year award in 2003.

Last year, Palacios, joined by Mosley, competed in the 7th FINA World Swimming Championships in Indianapolis, IN.