SCS, San Vicente top 2nd leg of cross country

A San Vicente Elementary School runner sprints to the finish line during the second leg of the Northern Marianas Athletics’ 2016 All Schools Cross Country Series held last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

San Vicente Elementary School and Saipan Community School split the top honors in the two age groups in the second leg of Northern Marianas Athletics’ 2016 All Schools Cross Country Series held last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field.

San Vicente ruled the boys U7 division, while SCS prevailed in the girls category. The same results were recorded in the U9 age group.

Yu Jie gave SCS the victory in the girls U7 after she completed the one-lap race (nearly one mile) in 9:49. She was the lone runner in her division to make it to the finish line under the 10-minute mark, as Saipan International School’s Phoenix Gross and Agape Christian School’s Xin Ye Yang timed in at 10:17 and 10:20, respectively.

Eight other runners finished the race with Agape’s Angeline Quan (10:53) coming in at fourth and followed by San Vicente’s Frantaysha Robert (11:29), Agape’s Xie Ye Yang (12:01), San Vicente’s Madison Del Rosario (12:27), Agape’s Maria Guo (18:20), San Vicente’s Angelina Camacho (19:27), and SCS’s Hannah Li (19:38) and Michaella Yang (20:06).

In the boys U7, Vincent Palacios, who placed second in the first leg, this time was the No. 1 finisher leading fellow San Vicente students in the Top 3. Palacios posted 8:23 to beat schoolmates Chase Agulto (9:15) and Kimo Porras (9:20).

Other finishers in the division were Agape’s Raynel Escarlan (10:15), Jason Zhu (11:30), and Tiger Guo (17:15), San Vicente’s Seth Sablan (11:16), Arce Sangalang (12:44), and Eloy Deleon Guerrero (13:29), Mt. Carmel School’s Jess Jiang (12:52), and SCS’s William Guo (12:56).

In the girls U9 division, SCS occupied the Top 4 spots with first leg winner Hilah Bacani making a repeat after registering 7:43, which was faster that her 8:47 in the opener. Bacani prevailed over teammates Jenny Zhang (9:14), Abbie Kim (10:02) and Sheryne Yang (10:02).

Eight other students completed the girls U9 race. The list includes San Vicente’s Jayanna Crisostimo (10:28), Rhiettazayne Mendiola (10:43), Karmeann Cabrera (12:30), Bibi Shrestha (15:42), and Tianna Villanueva (17:02), SCS’ You Na (11:14) and Fiona Kim (12:09), and Agape’s Mary Fu (12:50).

Kian Helgen of San Vicente duplicated Bacani’s back-to-back wins after ruling the boys U9 division. Helgen eclipsed his time in the first leg (8:13) after checking in at 7:43 last weekend. He won the neck-and-neck race for the top spot against Grace Christian Academy’s Takeru Jim (7:44). Helgen’s schoolmate Bryce Royal rounded out the Top 3 after posting 7:56.

SIS’s Anthony Gregoire (8:02), William S. Reyes’ Cojiro Kaga (8:10), SCS’ Alfred Baek (8:27) and Drei Camacho (11:15), San Vicente’s Nicholas Taisacan (8:29), Gregory Ngotel (11:52), Aaron Martinez (13:27), Onick Ragbonshe (13:38), Quinoke Manalo (13:35), and Brandon Solomon (13:47), Agape’s Wenjie Xu (12:27) and Jonathan Yu (10:37), and Mt. Carmel’s Maui Silva Reyes (9:43) completed the finishers list.

Meanwhile, Coume Kaga, who missed the first leg, showed up for the second race and was the No. 1 overall finisher after clocking in at 7:04. She also won the girls U11 age group, defeating GCA’s Soleil Lamar (7:17), Agape’s Elvira Zhang (8:09) and nine other finishers.

In the boys U11 age group, Aiden Montes’ 8:45 gave him the top ranking, ahead of Agape’s Bo Chen (9:02) and Eucon International School’s John Yu (9:59). Five other runners joined the division.

The second leg of the cross country series also had races in the middle and high school divisions and results will be reported later this week.