Rezne and Kensuke break CNMI records

Two long-standing CNMI swimming records are no more thanks to Rezne Wong and Kensuke Kimura of Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan.

Taking part in the 2008 Guam Swimming Championships held over the weekend in the Hagatna Pool, Wong and Kimura obliterated the old standards in the 100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke, respectively.

The 17-year-old Wong won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke but more importantly the 1:10:91 he took to complete the event shattered the CNMI national record of 1:11.69 set in 1989 by Brent Thompson.

Wong’s 100m breaststroke was also a new age group record, as it thumped the 1:11.70 recorded by Justin Pierce in the same event back in 1999

With the addition of the 100m breaststroke, Wong is now in possession of five CNMI age group records.

Kimura, for his part, broke the 11-12 age group record in the 200m breaststroke by completing the event in 3:04. Keoni Ichihara held the previous record when he swam the 200m breaststroke in 3:04.84 in 1996.

Counting the 200m breaststroke, Kimura no owns seven CNMI age group records. Just last year, Kimura broke one of the oldest CNMI records set in 1980 by former Saipan and Guam swimming superstar Jonathan Sakovich.

Tsunami Saipan head coach and Kimura father, Hiro, said the fledgling club is very much pleased about Wong’s and Kimura’s latest achievements.

“Tsunami Saipan is proud of its swimmers and appreciative of the community support during its first year. We attribute a lot of our swimmers’ success to the support of the community and in turn the CNMI should be very proud of this new generation of record-holders,” he said.

Coach Kimura, however, said he expects bigger and better things from Wong and Kimura in the following months, especially when the two participate in the Junior Olympics.

“While it is satisfying to win in the Guam [Swimming] Championships and set local records, the Tsunami Saipan swimmers have their eyes set on reaching the Junior Olympics. A day after the Guam meet they started practicing toward the goal of qualifying in the Junior Olympics later this summer,” he added.

Other Tsunami Saipan swimmers who participated in the 2008 Guam Swimming Championships were Daniel Villegas, Shin Kimura, and Marystar Welch.

Results of their swims, as well as the rest of Wong’s and Kimura’s events, will be published in tomorrow’s edition of the Saipan Tribune.