Northern Marianas swimmers to the Pacific Games. Photo: Supplied
The Northern Marianas Swimming Team is expecting to win at least a medal a day during competition in the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands.
"The first medal for Team NMI must be in swimming! I know we will win a medal every day," said head coach Hiroyuki Kimura.
Of the 15-swimmer strong team, Isaiah Aleksenko, Juhn Tenorio, and Maria Batallones are seek as having the best chances to medal for Team CNMI.
All three are veterans of this year's FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Aleksenko's events in the Solomons meet are the 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly, while Tenorio will take the plunge in the 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke and Batallones the same distances in the breaststroke.
The team is also expecting to do well in the men's 100x4 freestyle, 200x4 freestyle, and 100x4 medley relay events.
The rest of the CNMI swimming team are Kean Pajarillaga, Kouki Watanabe, Kevin Guerrero, Andrew Nunez, Julia Jinang, Shoko Litulumar, Taiyo Akimaru, Moshe Sikkel, Michael Miller, Jinie Thompson, Piper Raho, and Nagi Tenorio
Kimura said since the Pacific Games is the epitome of sports competition in the region, the CNMI National Swimming Team is taking it very seriously.
"It is the coach's responsibility to get as many swimmers to make it through the preliminary round, onto the final stage, and on the podium," he said.
"Even if swimmers don't make it to the finals, I want them to do their best to aim for a higher ranking.
"While representing the CNMI, it is the swimmer's responsibility to aim for a higher ranking than swimmers from the same region in Micronesia," Kimura added.