First leg of All-Schools qualifiers in the bag

The first leg of the preliminary trials for next month’s 4th Annual McDonald’s All-Schools Track and Field Championship ended on Wednesday with the 12-and-under division taking center stage at the Oleai track facility inside the Susupe Sports Complex.

Organized by the Northern Marianas Athletics the qualifiers are held in the 8-, 10-, and 12-and-under divisions from April 14 to 16 with the older age group showcasing their skills on April 17 and 24.

Students who failed in the qualifiers can still earn slots in the finals of the McDonald’s All-Schools in the CNMI National Championships on May 5. The McDonald’s All-Schools Championships is on May 10.

The trials began on April 14 with the elementary schools of Dandan, Garapan, Kagman, and Tanapag joining Whispering Palms School and Calvary Christian Academy for the preliminaries in the 100m, 200m, and 1,500m runs, long jump, and the 4x100m relay.

The following day, the elementary schools of Koblerville, Oleai, San Antonio, and William S. Reyes, along with Saipan Community School and Grace Christian Academy took the field and on Wednesday it was the chance of the students from Seventh Day Adventist, Mt. Carmel School, Saipan International School, and the elementary schools of San Vicente and Gregorio T. Camacho to showcase their skills.

The events for the 8- and 10-and-under are 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1,500m runs, 4x100m and 4x400m relays, long jump, and softball throw while the 12-and-under will have 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1,500m runs, 3,000m steeplechaise, 4x100m and 4x400m relays, long jump, and javelin throw.

Results were not yet available as of press time.

On April 21 to 23, preliminaries in the 400m and 800m runs, 4x400m relay, softball throw, and 3,000m steeplechaise will take place. Koblerville, Mt. Carmel, San Antonio, San Vicente, WSR, and SCS will be the first schools to vie in the trials on April 21.

On April 22, Dandan, Seventh Day Adventist, Tanapag, CCA, Kagman, and GTC will compete for the day while Garapan, Oleai, GCA, WPS, and SIS are scheduled on April 23.

The preliminaries for the junior high and high schools will be held on April 17 and 24 where Hopwood Junior High School, GCA, WPS, CCA, SIS, Chacha Oceanview Junior High School, and SCS will compete in the junior high division.

The high schools of Marianas, Saipan Southern, Kagman, GCA, MBA, and SIS will be the other competing schools in the higher division.

They will compete in the 100m, 200m, 1,500m runs, discus throw, shot put, long jump, and 4x100m relay on April 17 while the following week, April 24, competitions in 400m and 800m runs, high jump, javelin throw, 4x400m relay, and 3,000m steeplechaise will be held.

Athletes are allowed to participate in only four events and more than the specified number would disqualify the said athlete in all events that he competed in. No event will be canceled to accommodate athletes participating in two events at the same time.