Morris, Tenorio triumph in XTERRA Saipan

Lewie Tenorio and Brian Morris made the host proud as they reigned supreme in their respective age groups in last Saturday’s 2012 XTERRA Saipan Championship.

Morris was the first Saipan finisher in the men’s division and also ruled the 30 to 34 age group, while Tenorio topped the 40 to 44 category.

The 32-year-old Morris clocked in at 3:17:22 in the 1.5-kilometer swim, 32-km bike, and 12-km run race to beat five off-island triathletes and one fellow Saipan bet in his age group. His time was good for No. 15 overall out of 56 championship course finishers and was more than three minutes faster than runner-up Theo Goquely of the U.S. (3:20:58). Morris split times were 21:55 in the swim (22nd overall), 1:46:53 in the bike (13th), and 1:06:59 (18th).

“I had a good race, crash free, and I am happy with my time. It’s nice to race with those pros, they were so fast,” said Morris, who joined the last two Enticers to prepare for XTERRA and will be racing again this weekend, but will only do the swim leg in Tagaman.

Joining Morris in the Top 6 were Guam’s Gabriel Lombard (3:35:40), Americans Jeffrey Phillips (3:47:02) and Mike Waring (3:56:12), Guam’s Michael Stewart (4:10:19), and Saipan’s Travis Spaeth (4:12:27).

In the men’s 40 to 44, Tenorio had a close win, ahead by only one minute and three seconds against Japan’s Nobuhiro Koizumi. Tenorio timed in at 3:34:40 (23rd overall), while Koizumi posted 3:35:43. Rounding out the Top 5 were Guam’s Mark Cruz (4:08:53) and Japan’s Osamu Sawahata (4:24:43) and Atsushi Ohkawa (4:36:09).

“It was fun riding the course this morning (last Saturday). The condition was almost perfect. I did not know I finished first in my age group, I just kept on pushing until I saw the finish line,” said Tenorio, who had split times of 29:47 (swim), 1:53:59 (bike), and 1:11:04 (run).

Meanwhile, other age group finishers in the men’s division were Jules Goguely (15 to 19/ 4:05:23); Benjamin Dillon (25 to 29/3:15:36); Peter Lombard (35 to 39/3:13:21); Takayuki Hamada (45 to 49/3:33:35); Jay Sampsel (50 to 54/3:36:20); Saburo Arakawa (55 to 59/ 5:39:55); and Alan Moore (60 to 64/ 4:38:57).

In the women’s division, Saipan’s Dawn Hammermeister and Robyn Wondrasek won the 45 to 49 and 25 to 29 age groups after clocking in at 4:07:09 and 4:39:26, respectively. In the 40 to 44 category, Japan’s Yoshimi Yasue took the top honors with her 4:26:19, while Guam’s Erin Johnson prevailed in the 35 to 39 age group with a time of 4:42:53, beating Karly O’Neal (5:20:02) and Azuna Samata (5:53:17).

Winners in the relay and Sports course will be released later this week.