Favorites win as expected in All-Schools

It was anything but business as usual at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool on Saturday as Whispering Palms Elementary, Saipan International School Junior High, and Marianas Baptist Academy tankers took top honors in Marpi during the 13th Annual All-Schools Swim Meet.

With members on all of the teams, the Saipan Swim Club sponsored the event once again as all three learning institutions that were favored going in to the competition, pulled out victories in the Elementary, junior high, and high school divisions.

The youngest kids from Whispering Palms were the most dominant on the day as they grabbed 376 points—174 more than their closest competitors from SIS (206), while the Canaries of San Vicente School narrowly edged Saipan Community School by a point for third with 127.

The action was a little closer in the Junior High division as the SIS Geckos held off the WSP team, but the two dominated their counter parts from SCS and Mount Carmel School.

The Geckos had just enough to win the meet with 181 points while Whispering Palms was close behind with 154, but the kids from SCS (36) and MCS (18) put up a good fight.

As expected, Marianas Baptist Academy took top honors in the high school division as the home of some of Saipan’s top swimmers finished the meet with 100 points to down SIS (62), Saipan Southern High School (40), Grace Christian Academy (27), and the Dolphins of Marianas High School (18).

“I think this year’s meet was much more competitive than in years past, it was definitely more exciting than last year’s meet. We saw some incredible performances by both our younger and older swimmers,” said SSC coach Michael Stewart.

The coach touched on some of the highlights of the meet by noting that Opal Northen of WPS won the 200m and 400m freestyle races in the 9-and-under and trimmed more than one minute off of her lifetime best in the 200m.

Northen and Johnson were two of the 15 swimmers who managed to finish first twice on the day, as they were joined by fellow two-timers Grace Kimball (50m free/breast), Kensuke Kimura (200m free/50m breast), Jellian Majors (200m IM/free), Dominique Austin (200m free/IM), Michael Camacho (200m free/100m back), Mark Puno (50 Fly/100 free), Sarah Johnson (50m /400m free), RJ Knecht (50m butterfly/200m IM), Minerva Cabara (100m breast/200m IM), Rezne Wong (100m breast/200m IM), Victoria Chentsova (100m free/50m back), En Yung Pang (100m and 400m free), Andrew Kimball (50m back/ 200m IM), and Cooper Graf (100m back/ 400m free).

Stewart also mentioned the successful return of Sarah Johnson to the pool. After coming off a year-long injury, Johnson rebounded to win both the 50m and 400m freestyle races in the junior high division. Even more remarkable was that her time in the 50m free makes her eligible for the 2006 Micronesian Games.

Not only was Kimball a double winner, the SCS standout blew away his lifetime best in the 200 IM by just under two minutes, but Stewart didn’t stop there as he complimented one of the more experienced swimmers as well.

“I usually don’t give our senior swimmers enough accolades, but the two swims that Juan Camacho of Grace Christian turned in at this time of year were impressive. Both his 50m and 100m Freestyle swim were a sign of his maturity and indicative of his hard work,” he said.