By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THREE NMI swimmers debuted in the 12th FINA World Championships last Sunday at
Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia and made good accounts of themselves.
Rezne Wong topped his heat in the 400m freestyle swim timing in at four minutes, 36.90 seconds.
Cooper Graf was in the same heat with Wong and after starting in fourth place finished second behind his teammate with a lifetime best swim of 4:57.26.
Korea’s Tae Hwan Park ruled the event with a time of 3:44.30.
Wong and Graf finished 71st and 73 rd overall.
Sarah Johnson also won her heat in the 400m freestyle. At the first 50 meter mark, Johnson was behind Fiji’s Frances Nagatalevu, but the NMI swimmer grabbed the lead at the 100m mark and finished the race in 5:05.03. Johnson’s time was nine seconds shy of her LTBs.
Johnson placed 63rd overall in the women’s 400m race won by France’s Laure Manaudou, who posted 4:02.61.
Wong competed in the 100m freestyle for his second event last Sunday and placed second in his heat with a time of 1:15.95. He finished 104th among 128 swimmers.
In an email to the Variety, Saipan Swim Club coach Michael Stewart, who accompanied the NMI swimmers to Australia, said their young team made the grade on Day 1.
“All in all, I think we did a great job on day one. We had a long trip here and the kids are a bit tired. I believe in the days to come and more rest, our times will drop greatly,” Stewart said.
The NMI delegates traveled for 28 hours leaving Saipan last Friday morning and arriving in Melbourne Sunday. From Saipan, they went to Tokyo, Japan for a connecting flight to Melbourne.
Wong and Graf were competing in the 200m freestyle event yesterday, while Johnson was entered in the 100m backstroke, but results of those races were unavailable at press time.
Wong is also entered in the 50m freestyle event, 50m, 100 and 200m breaststroke, 100m butterfly and 200m and 400m individual medley.
Graf will also be joining the 50m, 100m, 800m and 1500m freestyle swims, while Johnson will be competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle swims and 50m backstroke.