Swimmers, cyclists dominate headlines

Local tankers and cyclists dominated sports headlines last week when they competed in the 2008 Guam Swimming Championship and Inaugural Ayuda Charity Mountain Bike Race, respectively.

Rezne Wong and Kensuke Kimura of Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan led the way for Saipan swimmers as the two 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

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.

The Saipan Swim Club, meanwhile, won 32 medals in last weekend’s 2008 Guam Swimming Championships led by Kai Staal and Grace Kimball.

Butch Sublemente and Mieko Carey, for their part, used their experience from past stagings of the XTERRA Saipan Championship to win the Inaugural Ayuda Charity Mountain Bike Race held last May 31.

Sublemente was the first to cycle down from the 1,554-foot Mt. Tapochao and cruised to the finish line at the American Memorial Park in a sterling time of 57:02. Carey, for her part, finished sixth overall and tops among women cyclists, completing the eight-mile off-road race in 1:03:21.

In other sports news, the 2009 Oceania Basketball Tournament will be held in the CNMI after the International Basketball Federation, or FIBA, awarded the hosting of the event to the Commonwealth last month.

A total of 36 pairs made up of 72 players also took part in the Inaugural Saipan Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament held last May 31 at the Laolao Bay Golf Resort west course.

In soccer, Matt Smith’s Smithereens and PIC’s Paradise In Cleats advanced to the finals of the 2008 Women’s Recreational Spring Football League.

Smithereens were first to book a berth in the championship game despite finishing its May 31 semifinal match against Marianas Eye Spectacular Blues in a scoreless draw. Paradise In Cleats later joined Smithereens in the finals after nipping Wild Bill’s Wild Fire, 1-0, in their own semifinal contest.

In golf, Jess “Mr. Unorthodox” Wabol was conventional by his standards after he missed the cut of the 2008 Philippine Amateur Golf Championship held two weeks ago in Bacolod City, Philippines.

The past week also saw action continue in the PTI Inter-Government Business Basketball League and 3rd Annual Budweiser-Saipan Major League despite a midweek announcement that load shedding will cancel action in both events.