NMI swimmers to compete in Ed Ching’s Swimming Invitational in Guam

Despite being a late addition to the schedule while many NMI swimmers competed in Fiji, a smaller group of junior athletes will still get the chance to represent the Marianas at the 2nd Annual Ed Ching Swimming Invitational in Guam on Saturday, May 16.

A total of nine NMI swimmers will make the trip to Guam—three from Tsunami Saipan: Sera Guerrero, Gwen Retardo, and Kevin Guerrero; and six from Saipan Swim Club: Hope Tenorio, P.J. Seman, Jr. Seman, Lukasz Szefler, Olivia Walsh, and Gabe Walsh. David Roberto will serve as coach and Susanti Szefler will serve as the manager, while Sera and Kevin's mom are going with the team as official chaperones.

A Guam swim coach reached out to Saipan coaches about hosting swimmers to train and compete while recovery efforts continue back home. But, Richard Sikkel, head coach of Saipan Swim Club, said they initially declined because of the timing with many swimmers already in Fiji for the Oceania Championships, however, some parents were interested in having their kids join the trip.

“It is a nice R&R for the kids to get off-island for a bit and gain experience swimming in meets,” Sikkel said. “The goal is for them to swim PBs and have a good time.”

As for Tsunami head coach Hiroyuki Kimura, who is enroute home after coaching the national team at the Oceania Championships in Fiji, he said, “This is the first time we have sent swimmers to Guam since 2000, and until COVID, we had been sending a large number of swimmers twice a year.”

“With this meet, I’m so happy to be able to send swimmers to Guam again,” Kimura added. “I would like to take this opportunity to send swimmers again frequently from now on.” He noted, however, that airfare remains expensive, almost the same cost as traveling to Japan.

“But I would like to use this mini swim camp for seniors and Guam meet for juniors as an opportunity to take swimmers to Japan,” he said.

Kimura also said Sera and Retardo, who will be competing in their first off island meet, are swimmers he believes “will definitely be on the NMI National Team in the future.” As for Kevin, Kimura said his expectations for him is to reach a 50m butterfly AA time, 50m breaststroke A time, and cut 27 seconds in his 50m freestyle.

The NMI team are on the way back from Fiji after bagging four medals and breaking multiple records.

The meet honors legendary Guam swim coach Edwin Ching, who has spent nearly five decades developing swimmers in Guam and throughout the region. Ching has coached for 48 years and has trained athletes connected to 10 Olympic Games.