12 ACS runners clinch podium finishes

Northern Marianas Athletics official Elias Rangamar, right, gives last minute instructions to participants in the middle and high school divisions during last Saturday’s opening leg of the 2015 NMA All Schools Cross Country Series at the CPA Airport Field . (Ferdie De La Torre)

Agape Christian School showed up with a 51-strong delegation that resulted to 12 of its runners clinching podium finishes in the middle and high school divisions of the 2015 NMA All Schools Cross Country Series’ opening leg held last Saturday at the Commonwealth Ports Authority Airport Field.

Caleb Wang and Yang Sheng Ai ruled the boys and girls U18 divisions as they bested their respective ACS teammates. ACS had 10 runners in the boys division, while all 12 in the girls side came from the Gualo Rai-based school.

Marc De La Torre was the lone boys U18 competitor that did not came from ACS. He was one of the three Marianas High School bets who joined the annual running event.

Wang was the fastest high school runner, completing the 3.2-mile course in 20:35, ahead of teammates Allen Zhao (21:18) and Jason Wang, who was just two seconds behind at 21:20.

Ai topped the girls U18 in another all-ACS show. She submitted a time of 30:36, which is a full one-minute ahead of Sophie Shi’s 31:46, while Andrea Feng clocked in 33:23.

Sarah Wu led another all-ACS show in the girls U15 class, besting four of his teammates when she recorded a time of 21:03. Sookie Xu (23:34), Esther Li (23:58), Joy Lyu (24:48), and Le Chen Yang (35:29) placed second to fifth.

Mt. Carmel School’s Christian Villacrucis, Robin Agbayani of Hopwood Junior High School, Saipan Community School bets Sang Won Lee and Mateo Guerrero, home schooled Therize Millare and Nicole Kim of SCS joined ACS runners on the winners list.

Villacrucis ruled the boys U15 division after logging 9:00 flat in the 2.1-mile run, while ACS’ Chen Hao Yu came in a far second at 13:48, two seconds ahead of teammate Xiong Lue (13:50).

Agbayani duplicated Villacrusis’ feat in the boys U13 with the best time of 15:12 against Lee and Guerrero’s 16:19 and 16:22, respectively.

Millare (17:06) topped the girls U13, followed by Kim (20:36) and ACS’ Tesir Wang (21:21).

Meanwhile, tomorrow will be the series’ next leg and it will still be held at the Airport Field with a 7am registration and 7:30am race times. Runners in the U18, U15, and U13 divisions will start first, followed by the elementary division participants (U11, U9, and U7).

The third and fourth legs will be held on Nov. 7 and 14 with a 3:15pm registration time, while the race will start at 4pm. The order of the race on Nov. 7 will be elementary, middle, and high schools, while on Nov. 14, it will be middle and high school first, followed by the elementary division. The finals will take place on Nov. 21 with the venue to be announced later.