PACRIM heroes get nod

The Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association named two basketball players and an up-and-coming middle distance runner as athletes of month for November.

NMASA gave the nod to Jeremy Winkfield of Ol’Aces, Manuel Ajoste of Saipan Sixers, and Bo Wang of Marianas High School during their regular monthly meeting last Thursday at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Winkfield won the NMASA Male Athlete of the Month for November after leading his team to the championship in the 18-and-under division of the 2nd Annual Pacific Rim Youth Goodwill Tournament.

In the finals last Nov. 26, Winfield scored 20 points in Ol’Aces’ 60-56 win over an all-star team from Guam’s Southern Youth Basketball Association.

The 6’ forward went on to average 20.6 points per game and collected the most valuable player trophy of the division. Ol’Aces, in a spirit of goodwill, later gave away the trophy to Guam during the awards banquet after SYBA protested their loss.

Ajoste, for his part, received the NMASA Male Student Athlete of the Month plum after also leading his team to the championship of the 14-and-under division of the PACRIM. The 5’7” aerial acrobat shot 34 points in the Sixers’ 86-72 win against the junior team of SYBA, also held last Nov. 26.

He went on to bag MVP honors after emerging as the top scorer of the age group with a whopping 24.6 points per game norm.

Wang, meanwhile, was honored as NMASA Female Student Athlete of the Month after ruling the middle distances of both the road races and track meets held in November. In the All Schools Cross-Country Championships held last Nov. 13, for instance, the Marianas High School student took first place in the 18-and-under division and led her school to victory.

A week later, the 15-year-old shattered her personal bests in the 800-meter (2:41) and 1,500m (5:35:88) runs. Bo also excelled in the 20th Annual Mt. Tapochao Turkey Trot Fun Run held last Nov. 27, taking first place in the 18-and-under age group. Bo will also be competing in the Oceania Championships this month.

Other athletes nominated for the monthly award were track and field’s Darryl Roligat, tennis’ Audrey Motto and Russell Buenaventura, and triathlon’s Opal Northen, R.J. Knecht, and Dirk Sharer.

Roligat was nominated after sprinting to speeds of 11.52 and 24.62 in the 100m and 200m runs during meets the past month. Motto and Buenaventura were cited following their triumphs in the girls and boys 14-and-under divisions of the NMITA-sponsored Fall Tennis Classic Tournament. Northen and Knecht were undefeated in the 2004 Kids TRYathlon series, while Sharer finished third in the Rota Blue Triathlon.