Overall, 30 students competed from WPS – 26 from elementary, and four from junior high. Among the school’s veteran swimmers were Victoria Chentsova, Gabrielle Race, Negahr Rastguiy, Maile Aldritch, and Nicole Arenovski.
“I asked them all just to do their best and they did, so I was very happy,” said Race in an email. He was impressed with Chentsova, who improved her 400-meter freestyle time by 10 seconds, and Grace Kim, who according to Race finished a 50m freestyle event “that she couldn’t complete two weeks ago.”
The event was divided into three categories – elementary, junior high, and high school. The elementary division was the most competitive of the three, hauling students from Garapan Elementary School, Saipan Community School, Saipan International School, Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, William S. Reyes Elementary School, Tanapag Elementary School, Oleai Elementary School, Grace Christian Academy, and Dan Dan Elementary School.
A total of 101 students from 15 schools registered last Saturday.
WPS has been topping the annual swim meet for six years. With a “great school spirit,” Race hopes to maximize their participation again next year. The team also expects to compete in volleyball, girls’ basketball, and track.
Based on the competition’s point system, Whispering Palms’ 231 points was enough to put them ahead in the elementary division. GES came second with 192 points.
SCS won first in the junior high category with 91 points, pushing WPS into second place.
Saipan Southern High School’s team of Thomas Lee, Thea Minor, Dooyong Lee, Albert Lee, Andrew Kim, Vincent Lee, and Marvin Lee took first in the high school division with 119 points.
Among the numerous swimmers that shined last Saturday was GES’ Hiroto Yanai, who edged 10 other participants in the boys’ 9-and-under 50-m breaststroke event.
Whispering Palms’ Cole Chambers ruled the boys’ 9U 100-m freestyle before joining Logan Mister, Steven Goodwin, and Naoki Kasai in the mixed 9U 200-m medley relay.
SCS’ junior high team consisted of Steven Choi, Quintin Ramsey, Dylan Ackerman, Ryu Tanzawa, and Kosei Toda.
