Yvonne leads June awardees

Yvonne Bennett’s impressive runs in the 2011 Oceania Regional Championships were lauded, as she and three others were named top athletes for June.

Bennett was handed the NMASA Female Athlete of the Month for winning a gold medal and shattering CNMI and Micronesian record in last month’s regional competition held in Apia, Samoa. The Commonwealth sprinter claimed a gold medal in the 400m run and reset the CNMI and Micronesian marks in the 100m and 200m races.

She clocked in at 57.66 seconds in the 400m run to beat three other runners and then timed in at 12.52 seconds and 25.67 seconds in the 100m and 200m races, respectively, to finish second in the qualifying heats. Bennett eventually took bronze medals in the finals of the two sprints.

Joining Bennett on the list of June’s best were Clayton Kenty, Mikayla Lopez, and David P. Lizama.

Kenty was named Male Athlete of the Month for giving the CNMI a bronze medal in the 110m hurdles event of the regional championship. He submitted a time of 17.43 seconds in the 110m hurdles, eclipsing his Micronesian Games best time of 17.53 seconds. Kenty was just 12 seconds behind the CNMI record of Wayne Pua (17.31 seconds). Kenty also joined the 400m hurdles and surpassed his personal best time (61.58 seconds/2010 Micronesian Games) when he clocked in at 61.28 seconds in Samoa.

Lopez earned the Female Student Athlete of the Month plum after dominating the U15 division of the 2011 North Pacific Qualifying Tournament in Guam. The Hopwood Junior High School student ruled the age group after topping teammate Melody Johnson in the finals. The diminutive junior tennis player also triumphed in the doubles competition with Johnson as her teammate this time.

The Male Student Athlete of the Month award went to Lizama, who stood out among the veterans that competed in the 5th Annual Saipan Spearfishing Tournament.

Lizama had the single heaviest catch in the underwater spearfishing competition after getting a 12.5-lb sweet lips. He is only 17 years old, the second youngest in the field of 26, and beat the likes of Micronesian Games medalist Felix Sasamoto and eventual overall winners Mike Cassidy and Carl Dela Cruz of Guam’s Cassidy-Fanui.

The Kagman High School student is a member of Salty’s, which finished fourth overall with a total weight catch of total catch of 61.80 lbs.