All Schools champs kick-off today

The 2019 Public School System/McDonald’s All Schools Track and Field Championships will start today at the Oleai Sports Complex with competitions in the elementary division only.

After a series of qualifiers in March and last month, U7, U9, and U11 students who made the grade in the trials will vie for the gold, silver, and bronze medals in the 60m, 100, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1,500m runs, long jump, and softball throw.

Today’s finals will start at 4pm with qualifiers in the softball throw (U7) competing. For the first running event, students in the U11 age group will race in the 400m run.

Meanwhile, William S. Reyes Elementary School, Brilliant Star School, and Agape Christian School, and Saipan International School are the teams to watch in the U11 age group, as they each have more than 10 qualifiers in the weekend event.

WSR gained 21 qualifying berths, getting majority (17) of them in the boys division. Brilliant Star led the qualifiers in the girls field with 15 for a total of 18 slots—the same number that SIS got—while Agape received 19 berths with 12 of them in the girls division. Rota and Tinian are allotted one slot apiece in each event.

Brilliant Star has three entries in the girls U11 run—Ella Hall, Irin Chung, and Fiona Regan—and they are also running in the 100m finals, along with their schoolmate Savita Sikkel. Chung and Hall qualified, too in the 200m, while Sikkel and Chung made it in the finalists list in the 400m.

Agape has the most qualifiers in the 800m run in Barbara Wang, Mary Fu, and Yulia Yasuda and they will also race in the 1,500m event. In the long jump, Agape, Koblerville Elementary School, and WSR have two each.

In the boys softball throw, Koblerville and WSR will also field two students each, while SIS has the same number of entries and will challenge the representatives of Agape and San Vicente Elementary School.

In the long jump, two Northern Marianas International School students will square off against WSR, Koblervile, Agape, SIS, and Saipan Community School.

The boys U60m and 200m runs will also be an open race with no school having more than two qualifiers, while San Vicente has three entries each in the 100m and 400m races. In the 800m, WSR is the early favorite with four of its students qualifying, while SIS and Agape have two each in the 1,500m run.

The championships will continue tomorrow, while the middle and high school events will be held on May 10 and 11.