Cabrera, Pixley off to strong start

Saipan International School’s Rex Pixley, running third, joins fellow U18 runners in heading out to the course of last Saturday’s opening leg of the 2020-2021 Public School System/Northern Marianas Athletics All Schools Cross Country Series held at the CPA Airport Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Saipan International School’s Rex Pixley and Tiana Cabrera topped the high school races in the opening leg of the 2020-2021 Public School System/Northern Marianas Athletics All Schools Cross Country Series held last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field.

Saipan International School’s Tiana Cabrera is way ahead in the girls U18 race. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Pixley finished the 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes and 31 seconds to clinch first place in the boys U18 division, besting 14 other runners, including Agape Christian School’s Ray Qi. Pixley and Qi kept each other’s company in the majority of the three-lap course before the SIS student, cheered by his schoolmates and supporters, including veteran runner and his father Steven, gained some distance entering the finish line loop or in the last 120 meters of the race. Qi clocked in at 20:40 to settle for second place and was followed by his fellow Agape runners—Eason Tang and Allen Luo. Rounding out the Top 5 was SIS’ Sam Culp.

Other runners who joined the first qualifier last weekend (in order of finish/from sixth to 15th place) were Agape’s Jason Cao, SIS’ Jayden Shin, Agape’s Samuel He and Peter Hu, Marianas High School’s Anthony Bergancia, Jim Maniago, and Blake Mister, SIS’ Jack Linden and Paul Xiong, and Mt. Carmel School’s Robin Alvarez.

Three Agape Christian School runners keep each other’s company in the first few meters of the girls U18 race. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Meanwhile, in the girls U18 race, Cabrera and Agape’s Emma Pang were in a close race only in the first lap of the course before the SIS student breezed her way past her closest rival and 11 other runners.

Cabrera completed the race in 23:19 more than five minutes ahead of Pang. The SIS runner’s first place finish overshadowed the impressive overall performance of Agape’s women’s team in the division. Agape runners occupied the No. 2 to 7 spots in the finishers list with Eunice Xu coming in at third place, followed by Grace Shi, Elizabeth Xu, Sally Wu, and Elim Huang. Linxi Cai, Jinie Thompson, and Pyper Liske-Clark of SIS and Aleia Santos, Erin Frink, and Penelope Sablan of Mt. Carmel also completed the course under the 35-minute cut-off time.

Saipan International School, left, and Agape Christian School runners sprint to the finish line. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

With the opening leg of this season’s cross country series now in the books, NMA and PSS will only have two more qualifying events. The second leg is set for this Saturday, while the third and last is scheduled for No. 21. High school students need to compete in at least one qualifier to gain entry to the championship round which is slated for Dec. 5.

Each qualifier has limited entries with only six runners allowed per school (for each boys and girls team) to follow safety protocols against the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second and third legs, schools can change their roster to give others students the chance to race.