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36 make first cut for NMI cage teams
Elias Rangamar, right, gives some instructions to players before letting them do drills and other exercises during a tryout for the CNMI men’s national team last Feb. 10 at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Jon Perez)
A mix of veterans and rookies made the first cut for the CNMI national men’s and women’s basketball teams that will compete in the 2018 Micronesian Games in Yap.
The initial list of 36 players (17 men and 19 women) was released after Mariana Islands Basketball Federation development officer Elias Rangamar conducted a series of tryouts this month at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
He trimmed the men’s side to 16 from the more than 30 that showed up in the trials, including five from Rota. The preliminary roster also includes one player who is currently in the mainland. The 17 players will vie for the 12 slots on the CNMI men’s national team.
Prince Factor, Dean Blake, Coby Santos, Cheonsu Kim, Douglas Schmidt Jr., Jeff Deleon Guerrero, Kelvin Fitial, Preston Basa, Sean Rabasto, Ben Lisua, Jack Aranda, Marvin Rabauliman, Aiferson Atan, Jack Lizama Jr., Danandro Barcinas, and Gino Libuw made the first cut for the men’s team. Christian Mizer is the only off-island player being considered on the squad.
The women’s pool, on the other hand, went down to 12 from 19 who took part in the four tryout sessions. The 12 on-island players are joined by seven others, who are overseas. The 19 players will also fight for the 12 slots on the squad.
Sisters Eilena Santos and Annalei Santos, Cassandra Camacho, Irish Pagarao, Alliyah Fernandez, Tazna Deleon Guerrero, Connie Camacho, Liamwar Rangamar, Madaleine Alegre, Desrei Camacho, Halle Kenty, and Jacque Wonenberg are the players on Saipan included on the initial list. Completing the preliminary roster are off-island players Jamie Mendoza, Rachel Abrams, Glorily Williams, Teresita Sablan, Ira Palero, Jan Travilla, and Marie Javier.
Rangamar said he decided to increase the number of players for the first cut to have a bigger pool of athletes to choose from.
“It was a tough decision to make since there are a lot of good players. But, I have to make the cut. We’re going to work on some strength and conditioning, and skills development like passing in the next two weeks. I will be making the final cut after that and will announce who made it to the national team on March 23,” Rangamar told Saipan Tribune.
Both squads will have their first training session this Saturday with the women’s crew taking the court first from 11am to 1pm and the men’s doing drills from 1:30pm to 4pm.
