4 make November’s best list

Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association managed to complete the list of top performers for November during last Thursday’s meeting at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Making up the roll were bowlers Alex Castro and Lala Taitano, swimmer Kensuke Kimura, and junior tennis player Mikayla Lopez. Castro and Taitano were named November Male and Female Athletes of the Month, while Kimura and Lopez took the student monthly awards.

Castro was selected for November after winning the Saipan Bowling Association-Budweiser King of the Lanes Tournament last month. Castro had a four-game total of 797 pinfalls to beat 11 other bowlers and win the monthly roll-off for the first time.

Taitano was also a first time winner in the monthly competition and was cited for her four-game total of 718 pinfalls in the Queen of the Lanes tournament. Taitano prevailed over nine other female keglers.

Kimura clinched the November Male Student Athlete of the Month plum for representing the CNMI in the FINA World Cup in Tokyo, Japan and joining the Tsunami Saipan Swim Circuit Series.

The Grace Christian Academy student raced in the 100m individual medley and 50m freestyle in the FINA World Cup and submitted personal best times of 1:03.95 and 26.26 seconds, respectively.

When he returned to Saipan from Japan, Kimura joined the first leg of the swim circuit series and had another PBTs in the 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke, and 50m butterfly events. He broke the one-minute barrier in the 100m freestyle, clocking in at 59.06 seconds, becoming only the fifth swimmer in the CNMI to achieve that feat, joining the company of Dean Palacios, Rezne Wong, Kai Staal, and record-holder Jonathan Sakovich (54.44 seconds).

Lopez won the other half of the student award for her outstanding games in the 3rd Annual Tan Holdings Tennis Classic. Lopez prevailed both in the girls U15 singles and doubles events of the annual competition. She won the singles crown against Negahr Rastguiy and then teamed up with Carol Lee in topping Isabel Heras and Julia Ishikawa in the doubles title match.

Lopez, Kimura, Castro, and Taitano are now eligible for the athletes of the year award, which will be selected next month during the NMASA meeting. Representatives of each federation are required to attend the meeting for the election of the 2011 awardees.