{"id":289713,"date":"2018-12-04T06:04:34","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T20:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=289713"},"modified":"2018-12-04T06:04:34","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T20:04:34","slug":"villacrusis-adjusting-to-collegiate-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/villacrusis-adjusting-to-collegiate-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Villacrusis adjusting to collegiate races"},"content":{"rendered":"
Christian Villacrusis plunges into the pool during his debut with the George Fox University in the NCAA Division III last October in Oregon. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As expected, CNMI swimmer Christian Villacrusis is still learning the ropes in his rookie season with the George Fox University in the National Collegiate Athletics Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cSwimming for a college team is a good experience. It is very tough to manage time when you have to worry about balancing academics on top of your many swim practices,\u201d the former Saipan Swim Club member.<\/p>\n

Villacrusis debuted for the Bruins, who compete in the Division III\u2019s Northwest Conference, last October against the Southwestern Oregon Community College. He is one of the three freshmen on George Fox\u2019s roster and does freestyle and breaststroke swims for the Bruins.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first meet was great. We went up against Southwestern Oregon Community College and my first event was the 100 free. It was my first time racing in a 25-yard pool and I still need to get used to all these flip turns. Overall, I felt good about my performance and it was great to represent my school and of course, our island,\u201d the Mt. Carmel School graduate said.<\/p>\n

Villacrusis timed in at 52.47 seconds in the 100m freestyle, placing second behind teammate Dean Caleb (51.70 seconds) and beating fellow Bruins\u2019 Zach Johnson and four Southwestern Oregon swimmers. The former CNMI national team member also raced in the 100m breaststroke and was ranked third after clocking in at 1:08.01. Then last month, Villacrusis also swam against Witworth and Withman in Washington, Lewis & Clark in Portland, and Pacific Lutheren, while George Fox had the Bruin Invite over the weekend. In January, the Bruins are scheduled to compete against Villamette, College of Idaho, Puget Sound, Linfield, and Pacific (Ore).<\/p>\n

\u201cSwimming in the college level is very competitive. I am not getting the times I want right now, but we are working very hard and I am excited for our conference meet this February,\u201d the 19-year-old said.<\/p>\n

Villacrusis is talking of the NWC Championships that will be held from Feb. 7 to 10 in Federal Way, Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal for this year is to make the finals in our conference meet this February. It is going to be a lot of work, but I want to place in an event by the time I graduate,\u201d said Villacrusis, who left words of encouragement to CNMI swimmers who continue to train despite the closure of the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our swimmers back home, you guys are doing a great job. I know swimming in the ocean isn\u2019t fun, but you guys need to hang in there. Keep working hard, don\u2019t give up, and let me know when you guys play fortnite,\u201d the George Fox rookie said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As expected, CNMI swimmer Christian Villacrusis is still learning the ropes in his rookie season…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":289715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26,23409,22427,23410],"class_list":["post-289713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cnmi","tag-dean-caleb","tag-george-fox-university","tag-northwest-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}