CNMI Team Saipan Swim Club’s Piper Raho brought home three gold medals after leading events at the Klass Lions Invitational Swim Meet 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held Nov. 15–16.
Raho topped the 50-meter butterfly, clocking in at 30.33 seconds, breaking the Northern Mariana Islands record of 30.94 seconds set in 2006 by Nina Mosley. He also dominated the 50-meter backstroke with a 31.67-second finish, setting a new NMI record and improving his own previous time of 31.76 seconds. Raho also captured the 50-meter freestyle in 28.07 seconds, surpassing the 2006 record of 28 seconds.
In addition to his golds, Raho earned silver medals in the 15–18 age group for the 100-meter backstroke (1:13.44), 100-meter freestyle (1:03.52), and 100-meter butterfly (1:17.10).
Other medalists from the Saipan Swim Club include Michael Miller, who claimed silver in the 100-meter freestyle (57.11 seconds), 100-meter butterfly (1:03.90), and 50-meter freestyle (25.65 seconds) in his age group. Bronze medal winners were Matthew Szefler, who placed third in the 14–15 boys’ 50-meter butterfly (28.67), 50-meter breaststroke (36.91), and 100-meter butterfly (1:05.99), and JR Seman, who earned bronze in the 9–10 boys’ 50-meter backstroke (40.67 seconds).
Saipan Swim Club head coach Richard Sikkel praised the team’s performance. “The NMI Team did an awesome job. Most swimmers improved on their previous times. Although not everyone reached the times they hoped for, the results were super positive,” Sikkel said.
He added, “This was another great learning experience for our younger swimmers and a good tune-up for our older swimmers. We expected some fast swims in this meet. Seeing our swimmers place in their age groups is a great validation of their effort, but ultimately, it comes down to improving on your own time.”
