(Northern Marianas Sports Association) — The NMI National Swim Team members’ goal is to have as many finals appearances as they can in their respective races in the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
The newly built swimming facility of the host country will be filled with swimmers, including the strong 14-person NMI National Swim Team, which expects a very tough competition.
Nevertheless, NMI coaches Richard Sikkel and Hiro Kimura said they are setting their sights on the finals.
“The NMI Swimming Federation has set the goal to have as many NMI swimmers earn a spot in their event finals,” said Sikkel.
The NMI National Team is led by Team Marianas flagbearer Isaiah Aleksenko and collegiate standout Juhn Tenorio. Completing the squad are Taiyo Akimaru, Maria Batallones Kevin Guerrero, Julia Jinang, Shoko Litulumar, Michael Miller, Andrew Nunez, Kean Pajarillaga, Frances Raho, Moshe Sikkel, Nagi Tenorio and Kouki Watanabe. Yuko Kimura is the team manager.
The Pacific Games swimming competition will run from Nov. 20 to 24 with nearly 200 entries from 14 countries and jurisdictions.
“There have been cases in the past Pacific Games where the number of participants was too small and all registered swimmers were able to advance to the finals without qualifying. This time, there will be a lot of swimmers in Honiara, and for us, the goal is to get as many NMI swimmers as possible to the finals. The Pacific Games will a battle between the pride of big islands and pride of small islands in terms of swimming program,” Coach Hiro Kimura said.
Among the “big islands” and powerhouse swim teams are New Caledonia and Tahiti, which has 23 swimmers each on their teams.
Solomon Islands and Fiji, for their part, also have 20-plus swimmers each, while the NMI’s neighbor, Guam, signed up 17. Palau, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea have more than 10 swimmers each, while the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, and Samoa listed nine each. Cook Islands will have four, while American Samoa has a lone entry in the swimming competition.
Coaches Kimura and Sikkel are positive about the NMI swimmers’ chances to make it to the medal podium in individual and relay races. The coaches also expect the NMI swimmers to earn personal best times or establish age group and national records.
The NMI swimmers and the rest of Team Marianas delegation will leave Saipan for Honiara this Wednesday. The 2023 Pacific Games will kick off on Nov. 19 and will run until Dec. 2.
Team Marianas is supported by Joeten Daidai Foundation, Triple J, Crowne Plaza Resort, IT&E, IP&E, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Mobil, Tan Holdings, and McDonald’s.
