3 make March honor roll

3 make March honor roll

Tennis’ Luke Beling made it back-to-back, while two others gained their first monthly honors from the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association.

Beling was selected Male Athlete of the Month for March after a three-peat in the 2014 Pacific Islands Club Tennis Championship. He competed in three events in the PIC tournament and was unbeaten in the two-weekend competition, winning the men’s open singles, men’s open doubles, and mixed open doubles.

The Fiesta Resort & Spa tennis instructor outclassed Moris Villanueva in the men’s open singles finals, teamed up with fellow coach Jeff Race in clinching the men’s open doubles title, and partnered with Mikayla Lopez in ruling the mixed open doubles. Before earning NMASA’s votes for his string of victories, Beling was also unscathed in a tournament in February to earn his first-ever plum from the sports group.

Joining Beling in the March honor roll were MP United Football Club forward Sun Joon Tenorio and Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan’s Nanaka Watanabe, who were named NMASA/TSL Foundation Student Athletes of the Month.

Tenorio was cited for his impressive performance in the Pacific Ocean Cup 3 in Japan and Pacific Ocean Cup 4 on Saipan last month. He took the MVP awards of both tournaments after leading MP United FC to a runner-up finish in the Japan leg and the championship in the last stop of the competition on Saipan.

The Whispering Palms School student scored the most goals in the Pacific Ocean Cup 3. He then took the Golden Boot award in the Pacific Ocean Cup 4 after collecting a field-best nine goals.

Watanabe also had outstanding showing in two tournaments last month to share the student top honors with Tenorio. The 8-year-old swimmer bagged the high-point first place trophy in the 8-and-under division of the 2014 Saipan Swim Club International Invitation Swim Meet held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool and topped her division in the 2014 SSC Ocean Swim.

Watanabe’s title win in the swim meet was highlighted by her record-breaking time in the 100m breaststroke event. She clocked in at 1:51:11 to eclipse the 14-year mark of SSC’s Amanda Johnson, who posted 2:00.13 on March 31, 2000.

Watanabe was one of the only two Tsunami Saipan swimmers to make it to the CNMI record books in the girls 8-and-under age group. Ashley Dangol was the other one, logging 1.58.06 in the 100m butterfly.