Tagaman tops them all

The CNMI sports community was treated to a second serving of exciting triathlon races with the staging of the 20th Tagaman Triathlon Saturday, while the rest of sporting events on Saipan last week went ahead as scheduled.

Switzerland’s Renata Bucher completed her domination of the 2009 Saipan Sports Fest after winning the women’s division of this year’s Tagaman Triathlon. Bucher also prevailed in the 2009 XTERRA Saipan Championship.

Japanese Masauki Matsumaru foiled Sam Gardner’s bid for a sweep in the Sports Fest, as the former ruled the men’s division of Saturday’s races.

Forty-six of 51 individual entries completed the 1.5-kilometer swim leg, 60-km bike part, and 15-km run portion of the 2009 edition of Tagaman Triathlon, bringing them from the southern side of the island to its scenic spot to the north.

In the relay division, all 18 teams finished the grueling road race.

The 2009 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships also had a team competition with its doubles event.

Four pairs were named champions in the weekend tournament. The list included the tandems of Christian Miller and Daniel Camacho (boys’ 18-and-under) Adele Hudkins and Alina Ishikawa (girls’ 12-and-under) Chris Cajigan and Carl Dela Cruz, (boys’ 12-and-under) and siblings Thea and Theecel Minor (girls’ 18-and-under.)

Another doubles competition concluded last week with the 2009 IT&E Badminton Doubles Tournament having five champion teams.

They were Daniel Macario and Jorge Olanda (men’s B), Rick Brien and Frank Villagomez (men’s C), Macoi Aguda and Saul Gargallo (men’s A), Ingrid Sanchez and Cristy Villaflor (women’s B), and Annette Quiambao and Irene Santiago (women’s C).

Youth bowler Raphael Zapanta was alone in his victory in the Fiji Water Prince/Princess of the Lanes tournament. He ruled the April roll-off at the Saipan Bowling Center for his fourth straight monthly title.

Percy Omechelang and Yho Villavicencio claimed their second Budweiser King and Queen of the Lanes monthly title after topping this month’s roll-offs.

Omechelang and Villavicencio both prevailed in the February edition of the monthly tournament.

Hopwood Junior High School and Chacha Oceanview Junior High School won in the NMIFA U14 Interscholastic Football League 2009 for the first time, but it was big, as they also captured the championship in the boys and girls divisions of the inaugural event.

Hopwood Junior High’s boys team stunned the favored Saipan International School, 2-1, while Chacha slipped past Hopwood’s girls squad in a shootout, 4-3.

Hopwood’s male strikers bowed to SIS three times in the preliminary round before winning in the finals. Chacha had the same fate in the girls’ division, as Hopwood swept all three games in the regular season.

In the 2008-2009 Budweiser Inter-Government/Business Slow-pitch Softball League, Beach Boys beat Department of Community and Cultural Affairs for the first time, 20-7, to advance to the finals.

DCCA was undefeated in 21 games before losing to Beach Boys and needs to prevail against Freedom Air tonight to notch the second finals berth.