NMITF does well Down Under

With another successful coaching mission under his belt, Northern Marianas Track and Field Federation developmental coach Elias Rangamar said that his recent trip with the latest reincarnation of the CNMI track and field team to Australia for the Oceania Open and Under 18 Area Championships was at the top of his list.

“This was the most relaxing trip that I have made with any of the teams because they had some of the experienced guys with them, and they came more prepared than the teams have in the past. Jack [Kabiriel] and Tony [Ichiuo] helped to shoulder the load with their veteran leadership by getting the younger athletes prepared, relaxed, and ready for the competition.”

Overall, Rangamar said that he was satisfied with the results, and noted that he was especially proud of the team’s efforts because they only had three months to train. He said that some of the international athletes are returning home for the first time in last year because they have been training and competing in preparations for these games.

“We didn’t win any medals this time out, but I was very impressed by the quality of their results. We had Marcan [Aldan] reach 18 seconds in the 5,000-meter race, Jeremy [Winkfield] was the first athlete from the CNMI to break 50 metes with the javelin, and our sprinters were right in the middle of the pack—they used to finish at the end.”

Rangamar said that one of the sprinters was actually in the front of the pack, as Ichiuo was in third place in the final moments of the 200m sprint. Unfortunately he came down with the flu the night before, and didn’t have the energy to finish in medal contention.

While he didn’t place in the 100m sprint either, Rangamar said that Ichiuo was running like the wind in his swiftest performance to date.

“That’s still the fastest that he’s run when electronically timed—even since his younger days. If we would have hand timed it, it would have been like 11.1 or 11.2. All we did before hand was change his workout a little, but I think he has benefited from training on the new track.”

Just a few days after getting back to the island, Rangamar said that he is having difficulties trying to get the athletes to relax and rest up.

“I told them to take the week off, but they are so excited. They just want to get going with practice again.”

Getting out to the track isn’t all that difficult for the athletes to do, as all of them hail from Marianas High School—which is right next door to the state-of-the-art Oleai facility.

“This just solidifies MHS as the team to beat in track and field. I think it could have something to do with them having the track right next door, but it should give the kids at the other schools something to shoot for,” he said.

The track stars will have plenty of time to rest up and train for the next item in the NMITFF agenda, and with a little luck, the track and field facility in Oleai will be host to its first international competition next April.

According to Rangamar, a couple of teams from Guam are interested in participating in the All Schools competition next spring, and the NMITFF may hold the games in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Micro Cup.

Rangamar hopes that by hosting the Micro Cup next year that Saipan will have the opportunity to welcome larger events to the facility.

“We want to host a lot of international competitions at the track. They’ll be judging us by how we do during the Micro Cup, and they’ll give us the bigger one’s if we do well.”

The cup was supposed to be held on Saipan last year, but was moved to Palau because the Oleai facility was not ready for action. Rangamar said that in order for the CNMI to be able to host the teams from Palau, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Chuuk, Phonpei, Napu, Kimbati, and Yap, the organization will need a light from above and some community assistance.

“If support comes in from the community and from the sponsors, and we can get the lights installed by then, we’ll have a decent shot at the April target date.”