Record-breaking swims for Rezne, Kensuke

Three other records were broken during the 2008 All Schools Swimming Championships last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi.

Marianas High School’s Rezne Wong swam in the 100m breaststroke event and shattered two records, which he himself set.

The 17-year-old Wong completed the 100m breaststroke race in 1:10.62, a new CNMI National Record. The previous mark was 1:10.91, which Wong himself recorded in May 30, 2008.

Wong’s time in last weekend’s meet was also a new mark in the boys’ 17 to 18 age group with the MHS swimmer eclipsing his own record (1:10.91).

Wong’s new record gets an A ranking in the Top 16 Age Group Motivational Time under the U.S. Swimming Time Standards. The A ranking is the fourth highest in the time standard.

Two other MHS swimmers raced against Wong in the 100m breaststroke with Junior Pamaran finishing second with a time of 1:29.67. George Race placed third, timing in at 2:01.80.

Wong competed in two other events—the 200m individual medley and the 200m freestyle relay. He was the finisher for the MHS relay team and led the Dolphins to a first place finish completing the race in 1:56.36.

Joining Wong on the team were Pamaran, Marystar Welch, and Blair Nicholls.

The MHS swimmers were about four minutes ahead of Saipan International School relay team (2:00.75), which was composed of Kai Staal, Cooper Graf, James Kim, and Sarah Johnson.

In the 200m IM, Wong timed in at 2:19.23 beating Graf (2:45.61) and teammate Michael Moran (2:53.54).

Wong helped the MHS Dolphins finished second overall in the high school division. The Dolphins and the SIS Geckos had a neck-and-neck battle for the high school crown with the latter earning 162 points against the former’s 158.

Grace Christian Academy’s Kensuke Kimura was entered in only one event—the 400m freestyle—and made the most of it setting a new mark in the boys’ 11 to 12 age group.

Kimura finished the exhausting event in 4:54.33, breaking the 14-year-old record of Joshua Taitano, who timed in at 4:59.03 on Jan. 29, 1994.

Kimura’s mark received a Triple As ranking from the Top 16 Motivational Time passing the standard time of 5:01.79 in that ranking. The Triple As ranking is the second highest in the time standard and the GCA tanker is only six minutes behind the Four As ranking (4:48.09).