Dickinson sweeps cross country series

Saipan International School’s Isabel Dickinson swept the three legs of the NMA cross country series held at the CPA Airport Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Saipan International School’s Isabel Dickinson won all three legs of the Northern Marianas Athletics’ 2016 All Schools Cross Country Series.

Dickinson clocked in at 24:18 in the three-mile race last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field for her third straight first place finish in the girls U18 division. Her time in the final series was better than her 24:56 in the second leg. The SIS runner had the fastest time (24:08) in the opening leg early this month. NMA held the first three legs in preparation for the cross country championships that will be held on Nov. 5.

Dickinson defeated perennial rival Ella Zhang of Agape Christian School, as the former checked in at 27:13. Tiajavika Salas, also of SIS, joined Dickinson and Zhang in the Top 3 after posting 27:15. Eight other Agape runners and Mt. Carmel School’s Quina Flores finished the three-lap race.

In the boys U18 division, Allan Zhao made it two in a row after registering 19:32 in last weekend’s event. The Agape student broke the 19:58 he recorded in the Series 2 that he ruled. Series 1 winner and Zhao’s teammate Caleb Wang had another runner-up finish after logging 20:06 in the final series. Despite placing second to Zhao, Wang managed to beat his times in the first (20:45) and second (20:18) legs.

Sixteen other Agape runners completed the boys U18 course, including third placer Henry Hu (21:21), while only one student from Mt. Carmel School—Christian Villacrusis (41:09)—joined the race.

In the U13 age group, SIS’ Go Sekiguchi won for the first time, while Hopwood Junior High School’s Conatsu Kaga earned back-to-back victories.

Conatsu capped the two-lap race in 14:31 to beat younger sister Coume and SIS’ Victoria Torres, which clocked in at 16:17 and 17:57, respectively. One more Hopwood runner finished the two-mile race, while Saipan Community School had one finisher in the age group. Agape had 11 finishers with Elizabeth Xu the fastest among the Torchbearers with the field’s fourth best time of 18:32.

In the girls U15, SIS runners still stood out with Anika Snyder and Tania Tan taking the Top 2 finish. Snyder, who ruled the first two legs, earned a sweep after posting 14:52 in the final leg. Tan, who was also runner-up to Snyder in the Series 1 and 2, recorded 15:13—her best time so far this season as she tallied 16:08 and 15:41 in the first two legs.

In the boys U15, there was a new winner in Ken Song, who clocked in at 13:01 to down 10 other runners. Agape’s Xiong Lue and Peter Wang rounded out the Top 3 after checking in at 13:30 and 13:51, respectively.