10 vie for top male athlete honors

Gold medalists in the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 lead the list of 10 nominees for the 2022 Northern Marianas Sports Association Male Athlete of the Year Award.

Weightlifting’s Raymond Santos, Angel San Nicolas, David Barnhouse, Jason Limes, and Joey Colisao earned gold medals in their respective class, while tennis’ Colin Sinclair also collected a couple to share the NMSA Male Athlete of the Month (for June) honors and qualify for the year-end award. Completing the nominees’ roster are badminton’s Nate Guerrero, basketball’s Coby Santos, bodybuilding’s Javin Okawa, and cycling’s Manny Sitchon. Winner of the coveted Male Athlete of the Year Award will be announced at the NMSA Banquet set for March 7 at the Hibiscus Hall of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.

Raymond Santos won three gold medals (snatch, clean & jerk, and total) in the Mini Games after ruling the 55-kg class of the weightlifting competition held at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. He added another gold to his haul, as the contest was also used for the 2022 Oceania Weightlifting Championships. Barnhouse duplicated Santos’ feat in the 109-kg weight class in the Mini Games and also topped the Oceania regional event.

Limes gained multiple gold medals, too, when he ruled the clean & jerk and total in the +109-kg class, while he added a bronze in the snatch and another gold in the Oceania tilt. Colisao took the gold in the snatch event in the same weight class in the Mini Games and a silver in the Oceania competition. In the 102-kg class in the Mini Games, San Nicolas bagged a pair of gold medals (clean & jerk and total) and a bronze in the snatch, while he won a gold in the Oceania meet.

Before the NMI weightlifters’ gold rush, Sinclair put on a show as he powered the hosts’ men’s tennis team to a gold medal win against Papua New Guinea. Sinclair and the NMI Men’s Tennis Team handed the islands its first gold medal in the Mini Games, while the No. 1 player in the Pacific delivered two more (singles and men’s doubles) and a bronze in the mixed doubles.  Sinclair also led the Pacific Oceania Team to a finals win against host Vietnam in the 2022 Asia/Oceania Group III Davis Cup Event less than two months after dominating the Mini Games. The NMI player continued to compete in International Tennis Federation and Association of Tennis Professional-ranking events and moved up the ladder, jumping from No. 770 in the world to No. 482.

Meanwhile, Guerrero, Coby Santos, and Sitchon competed in off-island events and had notable performances in their respective tournaments to make it to the monthly honor roll and qualify for the yearly award.

Guerrero was the January awardee for winning in the mixed doubles event in the 2022 Guam Badminton Invitational, while Santos earned the same recognition in February for leading the NMI Men’s National Team in scoring in the NMI Friendship Classic held in Guam. Over in the Philippines, the 64-year-old Sitchon finished runner-up in his age group in the Cavinti Triathlon to win the December award. Last November, Okawa notched the monthly plum for prevailing in three divisions in the Dee Clayton Classic Bodybuilding and Physique Competition (PR)