Five are top athletes for December

Five athletes raced ahead of the pack after being recognized as top athletes for December by the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association.

In its monthly meeting last Thursday, NMASA lauded swimmer Nina Mosley, sprinter Tyrone Omar and thrower Doris Rangamar of athletics, J.P. Sablan of baseball, and Audrey Motto of tennis as its top athletes for the final month of 2005.

Mosley and Rangamar shared honors for female athlete of the month as the two received the same number of votes.

Mosley, who spearheaded the CNMI swimming team to an incredible performance in the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games, continued her winning ways and ended the year with a double bang.

After taking two months off after the Games, Mosley returned to her old form, competed in two international meets on Guam, and as usual, dominated.

Earlier in the month, Mosley won all five of her events in a Guam meet, came back home for awhile, and returned to the southernmost island of the Marianas chain shortly after Christmas for the Guam International Meet.

She wound up winning nine of 10 events against teams from Guam, Hong Kong, and Japan, among others.

Mosley controlled the women’s 15-16 division by sweeping all five of her events on Day 1, then won four of five swims the next day.

The Chlorine Queen was the first to touch the wall in the 50m and 400m Freestyle, the 50m Butterfly, the 100m Backstroke, and the 200m IM. She was the first to touch the tiles in the 100m and 200m Freestyle, the 100m Butterfly, and the 50m Backstroke, and was the runner-up in the 50m Breaststroke.

For her part, Rangamar returned to athletics and competed well in the Micronesia Athletics Championships, where she won a gold and two bronze medals.

Rangamar, the Micronesian Games discus record holder, took bronze in the discus with a distance of 29.16 meters, then had her best moment of the MAC by striking gold in the javelin with a distance 25.71 meters. She then won bronze in the shot put after powering through for a distance of 8.96 meters.

Taking top honors in the men’s category was Sablan, who was a dominating force for the Pirates in their second place finish in the regular season of the SML Fall League.

Sablan, who has been a member of several all-star teams throughout his young career, was a thorn for opposing pitchers and earned the batting crown with an outstanding .475 batting average. He hit safely in 19 of his 40 at bats, led the league with 13 runs scored and 11 runs batted in, was tied for second with four doubles, and was second in the league with a pair of triples.

Sablan also showed he had what it takes to be a force on the mound as he ranked eighth in the league with a 3.18 ERA.

For his part, Omar claimed the male student athlete of the month plum courtesy of his record-breaking performance in the MAC. He set a new MAC record in the 200m sprint while also taking gold with a time of 23 seconds, which also gave him the CNMI junior and national records.

Omar also took silver in a 100m sprint with a time of 11.21 seconds, also new CNMI junior and national records.

He then played a key role in the CNMI Medley Relay team’s bronze medal finish.

Meanwhile, Motto had a successful campaign at the 6th Super-Krete Guam Junior Tennis Championship as she represented her home islands well and brought home two medals.

Motto made it past the early rounds and soon found herself fighting for the title in the girls’ 14-and-under singles. She was able to win the crown, beating Terea Tapu of Guam in a nail-biting 8-7 victory.

She then teamed up with friend Vivian Lee to win an all-CNMI finals in the girls’ 14-and-under doubles over Laila Mailman and Camryn Mosley, 8-4.

It was the second award in two months for Motto, who had also claimed the same honor for November.

Other notables for December include Jacque Wonenberg and Dexter Dillay of athletics, Jesse Iguel of baseball, and Ji Hoon Heo of tennis.