CATALINA Frink, Yoonmin Cho, and Lucy Shin topped their respective age groups in the Tsunami Cup Freestyle Junior Championships at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan on Saturday.
Frink’s speed was unmatched in the preliminary and final events of the 100m freestyle event in the 11&12 age group.
The Tsunami Saipan swimmer dominated the prelim with a time of 1:04.57.
The finals, however, proved to be much more difficult as she clinched the gold medal by just a millisecond with a time of 1:05.65, edging teammates Sera Guerrero and Gwen Retardo who clocked 1:05.66 and 1:05.79, respectively, to settle for silver and bronze.
In the 100m freestyle for the 9&10 age group, Yoonmin Cho topped the prelim with a time of 1:18.30 and improved his time in the finals with a time of 1:17.24. Gabe Walsh settled for silver with a finish time of 1:22.17 while Jr. Seman, who clocked 1:24.81, earned bronze.
In the 50m freestyle of the U8 age group, Lucy Shin reigned supreme in both the prelim and finals.
In the prelim, she finished first with a time of 37.25, and in the finals, she clocked 36.80 to claim gold. Following her in the finals were Lukasz Szefler with a time of 37.58 for silver, and Luke Seman with 42.38 for bronze.
Tsunami Saipan Club Coach Hiroyuki Kimura said the swimmers “did a good job overall.”
It was only for freestyle, he added, but Tsunami Saipan’s swimmers are also “very talented in other strokes (backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and individual medley), so I hope they will try those other strokes next time.”
As for the overall winners, Kimura said, “Hard work, pays off. I think it can be summed up in one word. When it comes to swimming, time is more important than ranking/place. I think all the winners had good results in terms of time.”
He noted that local swimmers over the age of 13 aim to represent the CNMI in off-island events, but swimmers under the age of 12 currently have no specific target.
This led to his decision to organize swimming events.
“Before 2018, we had a competition pool on this island. But after the Marpi pool closure, no more local meet. It is very difficult to go to a meet in another country because it costs too much. Swim meets are not held in Guam either. Strengthening the under-12 swimmers is CNMI swimming’s top priority. That’s why I do this kind of meet. I will continue to hold this event,” he added.
The top three swimmers of the 100m freestyle, 11&12 age group, Sera Guerrero, Catalina Frink, and Gwen Retardo, pose for a photo with their medals.
Leo Li, left, Dongmin Jang, and Lauren Camacho in action in the 50m freestyle event of the 9&10 age group of the Tsunami Cup Freestyle Junior Championships at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan on Saturday.
Evan Zhan and Jonathan Park vie for the lead in the 50m freestyle event of the U8 age group of the Tsunami Cup Freestyle Junior Championships at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan on Saturday.
