7 CNMI athletes leave for Fiji

CNMI athletes perform warm-up drills during their training sessions at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield last Wednesday. They will leave for Fiji this Saturday to compete in the 2017 Oceania Area Championship. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI Team that will participate in the 2017 Oceania Area Championship in Fiji will leave Saipan this Saturday evening in time for next week’s competition.

The squad is composed of athletes Zarinae Sapong, Beo Ngirngochor, Traven Quitugua, Riella Ann Billy Ichiou, Annalei Santos, Jamie Pangelinan, and Leani Acosta and coach Preston Basa. They will be reunited in Suva with Northern Marianas Athletics president Ramon Tebuteb and secretary general Robin Sapong, who will attend the Oceania Athletics Association Congress this weekend. The area championship will run from June 28 to July 1 at the National Stadium.

Santos will be the first CNMI athlete to see action in the tournament as she competes in the women’s 18-and-under discus throw against 14 others on June 28. The 17-year-old is also entered in the shot put event. Ngirngochor is up next as he races in the men’s open 400m meter qualifying run on Wednesday evening. The 23-year-old Marianas High School graduate will also participate in the 400m hurdles (June 30) and the 200m qualifying run (July 1).

In the women’s 20 and under 200m race, the Commonwealth has two entries in Sapong and Ichiou and the two runners will also join the qualifier in the 100m sprint. Ichiou will have three competitions as she is also entered in the javelin throw.

In the women’s 18-and-under 200m, the CNMI will be represented by Acosta, a late addition to the team after one member pulled out due to a conflict in her schedule. In the 100m run in the same age group, the Commonwealth will pin its hopes on 15-year-old Pangelinan, who had an outstanding performance in last month’s McDonald’s/PSS All Schools Track and Field Championships. Another All School star—Quitugua—will race in the men’s 18-and-under’s 100m and 200m runs.

NMA developmental coach Elias Rangamar, who has been conducting the seven athletes’ training sessions with the help of Basa and Ronald Olopai, said they are not putting so much pressure on the CNMI Team as far as winning medals in Fiji is concerned.

“Our main focus is for them to gain experience from the tough competition in Fiji and gauge the athletes that they may face next year when we compete in the Micronesian Games in Yap. If they make it to the Top 3 and the medals come, that would be great,” Rangamar said in an interview with Saipan Tribune.

Basa added that the CNMI athletes are going to Fiji after surviving challenging training conditions. Majority of them prepared for the meet for only a little over two months because of the lack of facility, focusing more on body strengthening and conditioning while working out at the gym, as the track oval at the Oleai Sports Complex has yet to open.

“Fortunately, they were able to do some actual races last month during the All Schools meet,” Rangamar said.