CNMI hauls 3 more gold medals

Chentsova collected two gold medals in the swimming competition at the PNI Swimming Pool yesterday to bring her total medals to three, while Ngirchongor earned a gold in the 400m run, also yesterday at the PNI Track and Field. With Chentsova and Ngirchongor’s contribution, Team Marianas has bagged six gold medals in Pohnpei as of 6pm yesterday.

CNMI swimming coach Jacoby Winkfield in a telephone interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday said Chentsova finished first in the women’s 200m and 800m freestyle races (times were unavailable at press time). Winkfield added that Chentsova bagged a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle last Monday. The 16-year-old swimmer timed in at 1:04.37 in the 100m freestyle to finish behind Guam’s Pilar Shimizu (1:01.37) and Marshall Islands’ Ann Marie Hepler (1:03.86).

The lone female member of the CNMI swim team raced in two other events last Monday, coming in at fifth place in the 100m backstroke and seventh in the 50m freestyle.

Three other Commonwealth swimmers are competing at the pool with Kento Akimaru and Takumi Sugie nearly making it to the medal podium. Akimaru was ranked fourth in the 400m individual medley, while Sugie also finished fourth both in the 100m and 200m backstroke races. Sugie participated in two other events in the first two days of the swimming competition, placing sixth in the 200m freestyle and seventh in the 100m freestyle race. Akimaru was ranked ninth both in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly, and 11th in the 100m backstroke.

Christian Villacrusis, the fourth member of the squad, joined four events, showing his best finish in the 200m freestyle after checking in at seventh place. He placed eighth in the 200m IM, ninth in the 50m breaststroke, and 12th in the 100m freestyle.

Villacrusis and company will conclude their campaign in the Micro Games today when they compete in 11 events.

Upset in 400m run
Meanwhile, Ngirchongor stun-ned his competitors in the 400m finale run, jumping to first place to give Team Marianas its fourth gold medal in the athletics tournament. Rachel Abrams handed the CNMI its first two gold medals (200m run and 100m hurdles), while Lia Rangamar (javelin throw) owned the third one.

Ngirchongor broke into the gold medalists circle after timing in at 52.74 seconds in the 400m run finals and beating five other runners. He nosed out Chuuk’s Tarrell Smith, who clocked in at 52.77 seconds. Smith was the top qualifier in the 400m run, ruling his heat last Monday with a field’s fastest time of 52.32 seconds. Ngirchongor was second to the last qualifier, ending up in fifth place with his preliminary time of 53.61 seconds.

Joining Ngirchongor and Smith in the medal podium was Palau’s Gwynn Uehara, who submitted 53.25 seconds in the finals. Pohnpei’s Pahnrasko Ardos came in at fourth (53.30 seconds), followed by Yap’s James Jagroop (53.78 seconds) and Kosrae’s Carson Mongkeya (54.95 seconds).

Besides Ngirchongor’s gold, Team Marianas also got two silver medals in Day 2 of the athletics competition. Jessie James delivered the first one when he finished second in the 1,500m run, completing the middle distance race in 4:41.30. Pohnpei’s Jay Gallen (4:41.13) took the gold, while Chuuk’s Rexter Muritok (4:42.34) grabbed the bronze. Seiya Eda missed giving the CNMI a bronze in the same event, as he fell one notch short of earning a medal with his fourth-best time of 4:46.36. Dylan Ackerman was the third CNMI entry in the 1,500m run and placed 10th ahead of three other runners after recording 5:04.45.

The CNMI’s second silver medal was courtesy of the quartet of Friendly Joy Pena, Rachel Abrams, Zarinae Sapong, and Lia Rangamar. The foursome finished the 4x100m relay run in 53.87 seconds, placing second to Pohnpei’s Aniyra Ligorio, Ashley Apiner, Geraldine Poll, and Mihter Wendolin, who clocked in at 52.22 seconds. Marshall Island runners got the bronze losing the close fight for second place against the CNMI after timing in at 53.88 seconds. Palau and Chuuk posted 54.06 and 55.78, respectively, to fall out of the medal race.

In other results, Sapong nearly nabbed a medal after finishing fourth in the women’s 400m run. She recorded 1:08.49 to place behind Chuuk’s Merisen Mariano (1:05.41), Poll (1:07.45), and Ligorio (1:08.03). Though she missed a medal finish, Sapong eclipsed her qualifying time (1:10.06).

In the women’s shotput, Lia Rangamar placed sixth with her 8.71 heave, while Abrams and the former’s mother, Dolores were ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, after tallying 7.83m and 7.73m. Yap’s Lucinda Kamloy won the gold medal with her 10.61m.

In the long jump, Jaynard White finished at the top half of the field with his seventh-best 5.44m. Another Yap athlete took the gold medal in the men’s long jump with Kius You submitting 5.86m. In the men’s javelin, Orrin Pharmin and Brandon Phillip took the last two spots after registering 36.21m and 29.15m, respectively. Pharmin also did the first four events in the octathlon, placing fourth in the 100m run (12.33 seconds) and long jump (4.92m) third in the 400m run (57.80 seconds), and second in shot put (8.14m).