Swim team ready to make waves in Palau

The young but experienced NMI National Swim Team has been practicing are in their element as they set out to make waves and strong finishes in Palau, taking on some of the Pacific’s best during the upcoming 2025 Palau Pacific Mini Games, set for June 29 to July 9.

After a medal haul for the ages in the 2024 Micronesian Games—49 golds, 15 silvers, and 14 bronzes, the swim team is now up against a much steeper competition with the larger Pacific region. Even so, the local talent and off island college athletes are looking to make waves, break some records, and get on the podium.

Hiroyuki Kimura, co-coach for the national team was asked what his thoughts are of the swimmers’ chances for podium finishes and he said, “The medals will be a variety of colors, but the NMI national flag will be hoisted multiple times on the center pole.”

Kean Pajarillaga, 18-year-old freshman student-athlete at Macalester College, is competing in the 100m and 200m backstroke; 400m, 800m, and 1,500m freestyle, and some relays too. Having returned to Saipan about a month ago and he said the practices back on island have been going good. “Our training might tone down a bit before we head out because we want to rest up and make sure we have enough energy for our events,” he said. Pajarillaga is also working on techniques with his strokes and kicks, and when he’s not swimming, he tries to rest up as much as he can until the next practice.

Maria Batallones, at just 17-years-old has represented the CNMI in multiple off island competitions and will be competing in the 50m, 400m, and 1,500m freestyle; 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke, and relays. In the past few weeks, she said their practices have been really tough. With no full sized pull on the island, they practice at a resident’s private pool. “We’ve been making workouts that have really been challenging and I think it’ll help us compete in the Mini Games. Her mentality heading into the competition is to come out strong. “I really want to see how much I’ve improved and hopefully exceed expectations.”

For 16-year-old multi-sport Michael Miller, competition will be in the 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle, as well as the 50m and 100m butterfly. He is also a triathlete and will be doing the sprint triathlon and aquathlon with the NMI National Triathlon Team. On how his training for swimming is going, he said, “I’ve been working really hard up towards this event, but I feel like there’s a lot more work to be done in the future.” Regarding his swimming events, he said, “I hope I do good. I’ll be swimming with a lot of the older folks who are in college so I hope I’ll be able to impress them.”

For triathlon, he said, “I really am just trying to have fun with it—try something new.”

Nagi Tenorio, also 16, is competing in the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke and the 100m butterfly. She is also in the NMI National Triathlon Team and is competing in the spring triathlon and aquathlon. The 16-year-old shared her expectations while in Palau “I’m training pretty hard so I expect myself to get personal bests in the games. I just want to have fun and do my best.”

Co-coach for the national team, Richard Sikkel, said the swimmers in his club—Saipan Swim Club—are getting along really well. “We’ve had a lot of events already. We went to Hong Kong as a prep and so it’s been a pretty busy couple weeks. But they’re fresh, they’re doing their sprints right now, working on short stuff, and really bringing up their speed. I’m having good hopes for the team and hopefully come together as a big team and come back with some good results.”

He said his expectations for the team are that there will hopefully be some personal bests, some swimmers making it to the finals, and a few medal finishes. “We’ll see—competition is tough but I think we’ll do well.”

Young, local talent and college standouts comprise this year’s swim team: Davina Litulumar, Frances Raho, Maria Batallones, Maria Guerrero, Nagi Tenorio, Sari Barman, Savita Sikkel, Shoko Litulumar, Isaiah Aleksenko, Juhn Tenorio, Justin Ma, Kean Pajarillaga, Kouki Watanabe, Michael Miller, Moshe Sikkel, and Richard Zhao. The team officials are Richard Sikkel, David Roberto, Hiroyuki Kimura, Hiroko Tenorio and Yuko Kimura.

The team is flying out on June 26.

The 161-delegation Team Marianas is supported by the Office of the Governor, Saipan & Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, Joeten Daidai Foundation, ASC Trust, Triple J, Tan Holdings, Altanx, Quality Distributors, Mobil, McDonald’s, IT&E, Chinese Association on Saipan, GPPC, Marianas Press, Matson’s, LaoLao Bay Golf & Resort, Dial-Rent-To-Own, NMI Local Peace Corps Reunion Committee, Y.K. Corporation, Shell/AFE Marianas, LLC, Wushin, I Love Saipan, BC Corporation, and Artman.

By Leigh Gases

View more photos here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BZrHwaJnh/