Runners brave strong rain

The 7th Annual Marianas Coffee Trail Run pushed through last week despite the inclement weather with nearly 80 runners braving the strong rain and slippery course to complete both the 10K and 20K races in the annual event.

Charlie Sendin emerged as the top finisher in the longer race, clocking in at 1:48:24, while Mamiko Oshima-Berger ruled the women’s division after submitting 2:13:33. In the 10K, Ketson “Jack” Kabiriel won the men’s division after tallying a field best 54:09, while Amy Sletten had a repeat in the women’s division after recording 1:05:53.

Other events that were not hampered by rain last week were the basketball and volleyball games at the Marianas High School Gymnasium and the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

The Sun Palace caging played its playoff round at the Gillette gym with Rollers 1,2, and 3 joining FTMP in the playoffs. Rollers 1 went on to eliminate FTMP in the semifinals to set up a championship date with Rollers 2, which ousted Rollers 3.

Still in basketball, Marianas High School remained undefeated in the varsity division of the 2013-2014 Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization Boys Basketball League. Other winners in last week’s MISO caging were Saipan Southern High School and Saipan International School, which prevailed in their varsity and junior varsity matches, respectively, while Eucon International School swept Kagman High School in the JV and varsity games.

In volleyball, the MHS Lady Dolphins were also flawless after five games, moving ahead of SIS and Mount Carmel School, which dropped to similar 4-1 slates.

In tennis, four CNMI junior players went to Guam for the 2014 Quality Cup and went home victorious. The pair of Julia Ishikawa and Tania Tan won the girls U14 doubles crown against fellow CNMI players Grace Choi and Malika Miyawaki. Tan and Ishikawa also advanced to the singles finale, but their title duel was called off due to rain and will be rescheduled on Saipan on a later date.

Also rained-out last week were the weekend matches in the Major, Junior, Senior, and Big League divisions of the 2014 Saipan Little League Baseball, while the 2014 Saipan Baseball League only managed to play its second game last Friday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.