Teammates nominated for female student plum

The battle for the 2008 Female Student Athlete of Year will be among teammates.

Saipan Swim Club bets Abigail Martinsen and Grace Kimball are nominated for the prestigious award, along with tracksters Jackie Wonenberg and Lia Rangamar, and Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan’s Marystar Welch and Angel Marie Tan.

Completing the list are tennis’ Thea Minor and basketball’s Roxanne Duenas.

Martinsen was the first recipient of the NMASA Female Student Athlete of the Month award claiming the honor in February.

The 10-year-old Saipan Community School student earned the monthly plum after getting the highest point in her age group in the 3rd Annual SSC Heptathlon Virtual Meet and winning in the 1,000m of the Annual Meek and Mighty Ocean Swim.

After the SSC tournaments, Martinsen went to Australia and set six lifetime best swims in the Far North Queensland Championships.

Kimball was not part of the SSC team that competed Down Under, but she was on the SSC roster that joined the 2008 Guam Championships in May.

In Guam, she took seven silver medals and a bronze, and made seven LTBs thus earning the Female Student Athlete of the Month for May.

Welch is nominated after securing the monthly plum for March. The Marianas High School student was the High Point awardee during the SSC International Meet.

Eight months later, it was Tan’s turn to notch a monthly award. Tan, also of Tsunami Saipan, was named Female Student Athlete of the Month for November after setting personal best times in five events she joined in during the SSC All Schools Meet.

The multi-sport athlete Rangamar shattered CNMI age group records in the 200m run and javelin and discuss throws during the CNMI All School Meet en route to winning the April title.

Rangamar earned her second monthly award in October. This time, she was recognized for her efforts on the basketball court. She was the top scorer for the CNMI Junior National Women’s Team that competed in the 2008 Oceania Youth Tournament in Guam. Rangamar’s biggest game was against Palau when she tallied 31 points and 13 rebounds.

Wonenberg gave the CNMI its first gold medal in pentathlon competition at the Oceania Championships last June. The MHS student also won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay and bronze in the long and triple jump events on top of setting a CNMI mark in the 100m hurdles.

Minor went to two off-island tournaments, left impressive marks in Fiji and New Caledonia, and was awarded with the Female Student Athlete of the Month for September when she returned to Saipan.

Minor was a third placer in the 2008 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji, and a semifinalist in a provincial championship in the French colony.

Basketball’s second nominee and the last to take a monthly award (December) is Duenas.

Duenas is only 13 years old, but her basketball skills are far ahead than players in her age group. The Hopwood Junior High School student decided to play in the 18-and-under division of the Holiday Hoops and still stood out the best in the group of taller and more experienced players, earning the MVP honors in the tournament.

NMASA members will make the selection for the outstanding female student of 2008 next month.