DeCourtney leads X-Country leg 2 winners

Robert De Courtney ruled his division to lead the list of winners in the second leg of the All Schools Cross Country race held last Saturday at the Commonwealth Ports Authority Airport Field.

Robert DeCourntey of Whispering Palms School, left, beats U11 runners Dylan Mister, center, and Coume Kaga to rule the boys U9 division in last Saturday’s All Schools Cross Country race held at the Commonwealth Ports Authority Airport Field. (Jon Perez)

DeCoutney led the pack of winners in the six age divisions in the boys and girls classes, which came from three different schools unlike in the inaugural leg where Saipan Community School dominated the competition.

The Whispering Palms School bet was the fastest among the 35 runners in the elementary division completing the 1.6-kilometer (1 mile) run around the Airport Field in 6:39 to claim top honors in the boys U9 age group.

DeCourtney’s time was three seconds ahead of William S. Reyes’ Coume Kaga (6:42) and four seconds better than WPS schoolmate Dylan Mister (6:43), the U11 girls and boys top runners, respectively.

Mt. Carmel School’s Dylan Santos was a far second behind DeCourtney with a time of 8:46 but one second ahead of third placer Casey Chambers (8:47) of Brilliant Star.

Kaga was the top female runner to rule the U11 girls class with 6:42 more than 30 seconds in front of Grace Christian Academy’s Soleil Lamar, who clocked in 7:20, while home-schooled Janelle Saluta came in third after submitting 7:34.

Mister made it a double celebration for WPS when he crossed the finish line in 6:43 besting Raven Francisco, another home-schooled runner, (7:05) and the 7:42 submitted by SCS’ Daniel Cho.

Jenny Zhang of SCS remains the top U9 girls runner with a time of 10:25, which was 31 seconds slower than her last week’s winning time of 9:54. WSR’s Jasmine Saluta was two seconds behind Zhang at 10:27 while Quimari Duenas of Mt. Carmel was third with 11:49.

Yu Jie Zhang, who last week finished second behind SCS teammate Hilah Bacani, this time ruled the U7 girls class with 10:28 to lead a 1-2-3 finish for the Tsunamis.

Yu Jie Zhang’s time was more than three minutes ahead of Abbie Kim’s 13:40 and the 13:42 recorded by Raina Park.

The next leg will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7, also at the Airport Field with registration starting at 3:15pm and race proper at 4pm.

The order of the race on Nov. 7 will be elementary, middle, and high schools; while on Nov. 14 it will be middle and high school first followed by the elementary division.

The venue for the Nov. 21 finals is still being arranged with race volunteer attorney Robert Torres trying to get the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort as possible race site.