Aleksenko fastest in Cross Country’s 3rd leg

Isaiah Aleksenko continued with his impressive performance in the elementary division of the All Schools Cross Country race held last Saturday at the Commonwealth Ports Authority Airport Field.

Isaiah Aleksenko shows no signs of fatigue after completing the one lap run—1 mile or 1.6 kilometers—around the CPA Airport Field in last Saturday’s All Schools Cross Country race. Aleksenko ruled the boys U9 class in the elementary division. (Jon Perez)

Aleksenko was the fastest among the 48 runners as he ruled the boys U9 division completing the 1-mile (1.6 kilometers) course in 6:30.

All elementary school runners—boys and girls U7, U9, and U11—only ran one lap.

The Saipan Community School fourth grader, however, was eight seconds slower than the 6:22 he submitted in the opening leg of the annual racing event.

Still Aleksenko’s time was 16 seconds faster compared to the 6:46 registered by Whispering Palms School’s Robert DeCourtney, who finished second.

DeCourtney, with Aleksenko skipping the Oct. 31 race, ruled the second leg of the Cross Country series.

Kaito Rechurchur, Aleksenko’s schoolmate at SCS who did not join the first two legs, was a distant third with 7:07.

Soleil Lamar of Grace Christian Academy equaled Aleksenko’s feat in the girls U9 class besting SCS’ Hana Ojima by a mere three seconds. Lamar clocked 7:40 against the 7:43 of Ojima, while William S. Reyes’ Princess Jose came in third crossed the finish line in 8:52.

Federick Guintu gave Agape Christian School something to cheer about after clinching the top spot in the boys U11 division in 6:56 against the 7:02 of Raven Francisco, who is home-schooled.

Mike Hou, another one of ACS’ six runners, won third place honors beating Dylan Mister of WPS by a hairline. Hou clocked 7:10 with Mister crossing the finish line in 7:10.1.

WSR’s Coume Kaga won the girls U11 division in 6:44, which is more than one minute ahead of WPS’ Ashley DeCourtney’s 7:48 and ACS’ Xu Jia Mei’s (7:48.5).

Kengo Sato of GCS (9:05), WSR’s Cojiro Kaga (9:10), and Hiro Rechurchur of SCS (9:17) finished 1-2-3 in the boys U7, while Sarapina Terry of Garapan Elementary School won a three-cornered fight in the U7 girls class.

Terry clocked 11:38 with Abbie Kim of SCS coming in second at 12:00, while San Vicente Elementary School’s Phoenix Gross was third with 12:28.

The final leg is on Nov. 14. Both will be held at the Airport Field and will have 3:15pm as registration and 4pm start.

The order of the race on Nov. 14 it will be middle school (2.1 miles or 3.3K) and high school (3.2 miles or 5.1K) first followed by the elementary runners. The venue for the Nov. 21 finals is still being arranged.