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Faichuuk edges Fanapi in track meet
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Posted on Feb 19 2012
Team Faichuuk took the top honors in the inaugural Ach Chuukese Association’s CNMI/Chuukese Championship track meet held at the Oleai Sports Complex last Saturday.
The event was formatted in three male and female age divisions: Semint, or U14 kids class; Sarafo for ages 15 to 23; and the open division open to all ages. Organizers recorded the results of the different events and declared the winning team based on a pre-determined point system.
Faichuuk finished the series of events with a total of 460 points to beat Fanapi by just 10 points. Weno came in at third place with 373 points, while the Southern Islands rounded out the fourth spot with 269.
The meet featured the male and female 60m, 100m, 200m, and 400m runs and the 400m, 800m, and 1,500m relay races.
The day concluded with the Top 3 finishers presented with trophies, while Southern got the sportsmanship honors.
In addition, a pair of special individual IT&E prize packages went to Riella Ichiuo of the Fanapi girls and Richard Phillip of the Southern boys crew for topping the male and female U18 100m race. The pair won brand new cell phones.
The inaugural track meet aimed to bring the neighboring islands within Chuuk together to both promote healthy competition and an active lifestyle through exercise.
Running has long been embedded as a part of Chuukese tradition. A number of athletes from Chuuk have well represented the CNMI in the past off-island competitions. The list includes Jack Kabiriel and Tony Ichiuo, who helped organize the event with CNMI national team coaches Elias Rangamar and Robin Sapong.
Notably, Kabiriel and Ichiuo also used the event to look for Chuukese runners who will compete in the Chuuk Track and Field Day event in Guam later this year.
ACA president Romino Saimon attended the competition and expressed his deep thanks to the Department of Youth Services, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, IT&E, McDonald’s, the CNMI national track team, Rangamar, and Sapong for helping make the event a big success. ACA hopes to make the track meet that attracted hundreds of participants an annual event.
