Previous Story
Cooper, Shin also going to Guam
|
Posted on Jan 06 2009
Cooper Graf and Shin Kimura will be participating in the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships too, joining fellow Tsunami Saipan swimmers Rezne Wong and Kai Staal in the meet Guam is hosting for six days.
This developed after Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura received an invitation from Japan Swimming Federation asking the CNMI to send a relay team for exhibition races in the JPP meet. JSF is co-hosting the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, which will run from Jan. 7 to 12, with Guam Swimming Federation.
“With this short notice, we summoned Cooper and Shin to join Rezne and Kai in the 800m freestyle relay team. They are the Top 4 freestyle swimmers on the island,” Kimura said.
Originally, the CNMI was supposed to send only two swimmers in Guam, as only Wong and Staal made the qualifying times.
Wong’ s CNMI National Record in the 100m breaststroke (1:10:21) is past the Four As in GSF standard (1:11.52).
Swimmers who get Four As time are allowed to join in the World Championships and Pan Pacific Championships. Triple A time will give swimmers entries to the East Asia, Oceania Junior, and Pac Pacific meets. Double A time is for South Pacific Games and Mini SPG, while an A time is for Micronesian Games only.
Wong’s 2:30.54 mark in the 200m breaststroke (another CNMI record) is also under the Four As time (2:35.00).
Staal’s CNMI mark in the boys’ 13 to 14 (2:07.15) makes the Triple A time (2:09.46), while his 25.68 seconds in the 50m split in the 200m freestyle relay in the All Schools meet in November falls in the Four As mark (26 seconds).
Staal’s 57.46 seconds in the 100m freestyle makes the Triple A qualifying time range (58.66 seconds).
The Pan Pacific meet in Guam is expected to draw 15 swimming federations from Japan, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, China, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Guatemala, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Macau, and Palau.
The pool competitions in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships from Jan. 7 to 11 will be held at the Leo Palace Resort, while the open water swim on Jan. 12 will take place at Tumon Bay.
The 18-and-under tournament is a prestigious event with its previous competitors including winningest Olympian Michael Phelps, Liesel Jones, Brendan Hansen, Natalie Coughlin, and Kosuke Kitajima.
