Brilliant Star, SIS students lead qualifiers in All Schools

Elementary school students compete in the boys 100m qualifying run for the 2017 PSS/McDonald’s All Schools Track and Field Championships that will start this Thursday at the Hopwood Middle School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The qualifiers lists for for the 2017 PSS/McDonald’s All Schools Track and Field Championships in the boys and girls elementary school divisions are in with students from Brilliant Star School and Saipan International School leading the list of entries for this week’s tournament.

In the boys U7’s 60m run, BSS’ Moshe Sikkel led the qualifiers after clocking in at 10.83 seconds in last month’s time trial. Sikkel will be joined in the All Schools Meet that will run this Thursday until Saturday at the Hopwood Middle School Field by Oleai’s Robert Billy and Rooney Gil, William S. Reyes’ James Quindoza and Jheams Sagana, SIS’ Landon Pudney, and Tinian’s Jerdon Cruz.

In the boys U9 division, SIS’ Christian Newman had the best qualifying time in the 60m sprint with his 9.10 seconds. He defeated three WSR runners, two from Oleai, and one from Tinian. In the boys U11, Hopwood took the Top 4 qualifiers with R.J. Narvaez leading the trial after clocking in at 8.4 seconds.

In the two other sprint events—both Sikkel and Newman lorded it over in their respective fields. Sikkel timed in at 18.47 seconds in the 100m qualifier and 37.70 seconds in the 200m run, while Newman’s qualifying times in the 100m and 200m were 16.02 second and 36.71 seconds, respectively. In the boys U11, Hopwood and WSR had a split with the Hilitai’s Josh Tereyama getting the best time in the 10m (13.00 seconds) and the Kingfishers’ Stone Smith posting the fastest mark in the 200m (35.00 seconds).

In the middle distance 400m, Sikkel again topped the U7 field with his 1:22.31, while WSR’s Tyler Omelau (1:28.87) and Hopwood’s Travis Kaipat (1:13.49) stood out in the U9 and U11 age groups, respectively. Sikkel made it five in a row as he also had the best time in the 800m (3:00.20), while WSR’s Paul Lizama (3:24.38) and Whispering Palms’ Dylan Mister (3:06.17) led the way for the U9 and U11 divisions.

Sikkel went on to complete his domination in the U7 trials as he ruled the softball throw qualifier after registering 20.6m. He was the lone competitor in his age group to have at least a 20m heave, while the 28.25m of his schoolmate Casey Chambers reigned supreme in the U9 division. In the U11 category, Smith’s 33.24m bested the record of an SIS student and three WSR bets.

In the girls 60m trials, the top qualifiers were BSS’ Serin Chung (U11), Oleai’s Jia Ross Nicdao (9), and WSR’s Lyanah Omelau (U7).

Other top finishers in the series of qualifiers that Northern Marianas Athletics held late last month and early this May were BSS’ Savita Sikkel (U9), Oleai’s Tinaly Litulumar (U11), and SIS’ Yuknap Zheung (U7) in the 100m; Yoon Li of SCS (U7), Savita (U9), and Chung (U11) in the 200m; Litulumar (U11), Savita (U9), and Omelau (U7) in the 400m; Agape’s Mary Fu (U7) and Elvira Zhang (U11) and Savita (U9) in the 800m; and WSR’ Mika Rose Naanep (U9), and Whispering Palms’ Helen Kim (U11) in the 1,500m run.

For the softball throw, there were also two familiar names in Savita (18.2m) and Omelau (7.24m), while the latter’s schoolmate Elena Palacios (23.97m) rounded out the top finisher in the trials.

Six qualifiers from Saipan schools and one each from Tinian and Rota will race in the All Schools meet’s running events, while the field events have no limit. There are also separate competitions in running, jumping, and throwing events for middle and high school students.