14 records shattered at MAC

A total of 14 new records were set at the 2nd Micronesia Athletics Championships, according to unofficial results.

As reported earlier, five records were broken on opening night Wednesday, with Guam’s Leana Peters and Justin Andre, Kiribati’s Taatia Riino and Buraieta Yeeting, and Palau’s Chandis Cooper putting their names in the record books.

The performances were just a hint of what was to come as another nine records were shattered on Thursday.

Andre, Peters, Yeeting, and Cooper set new marks for the second straight night, while the CNMI’s Tyrone Omar and Palau’s Ngerak Florencio and Felicia Saburo joined the elite list with impressive performances as well.

Andre, who shattered the men’s hammer throw record on Wednesday, continued to dominate the throwing events as he topped the shot put record with a throw of 13.39 meters, and closed the Championships by raising the bar in the men’s discus with a distance of 13.39 meters.

For her part, Peters followed up her 800m record-setting performance by doing the same in the women’s 1,500m race. After leading for most parts of the race, Peters lost the lead to the CNMI’s Noriko Jim at the start of the final lap, but regained advantage down the stretch to finish in 5:07.97 for gold and the record. The previous mark was set in 2003 by Christine Vicente of Guam.

Yeeting continued to dominate the jump pits as he leaped for a distance of 6.30 meters in the long jump to break the previous record by fellow countryman Nawai Rabangaki, who jumped 6.20 meters two years ago. Yeeting had earlier broken the triple jump record.

Cooper also had another incredible evening, breaking another record that she previously held. The Palauan, who bettered her mark in the women’s discus on Wednesday, came back strong to improve her record in the women’s shot put with a throw of 10.58 meters. Her previous mark was 10.38 meters.

Meanwhile, Florencio was simply outstanding and broke her own records in the women’s 400m and 200m events.

The 22-year-old Florencio, who currently trains in New Zealand, bettered her 400m mark by almost two seconds with a time of 1:03.53. The mark she set in 2003 was 1:05.20.

She then capped her evening by running like the wind in the 200m to break her previous record with a time of 26.33 seconds. Her old mark was 27.22 seconds.

CNMI’s Tyrone Omar brought his hometown crowd to its feet by breaking the men’s 200m record with a time of 23 seconds. The old mark set in 2003 by Danny Fredricks of the Federated States of Micronesia was 23.39 seconds.

Saburo had her memorable moment in the women’s long jump. After five jumps, Saburo’s best jump was 4.49 meters, which was already good for gold and just 0.01 short of tying the record. She wanted more and on her final attempt set a new mark with a distance of 4.62 meters. The old record was 4.50 meters by Mwenmeata Kaitinano of Kiribati.