Expect DeCourtney, Aleksenko duel in U9

Expect youngsters Robert DeCourtney and Isaiah Aleksenko to duke it out for the boys U9 title when the finals of the All Schools Cross Country takes place on Saturday, Nov. 21, at the CPA Airport Field.

Robert DeCourtney gears up for the finals of the All Schools Cross Country race after topping the last leg last Saturday at the Airport Field. (Jon Perez)

DeCourtney and Aleksenko have alternated in winning their division in the four legs of the annual Northern Marianas Athletics-organized event. They both qualified in the finals.

DeCourtney ruled the last of the four-leg race to duplicate his feat on Oct. 31. He clocked 6:46 last Saturday, which was seven seconds slower of his time in the second leg.

The Whispering Palms School bet also finished 16 seconds behind Aleksenko’s winning time of 6:30 in the third leg last Nov. 7.

Aleksenko won the opening leg of the race last Oct. 24, completing the 1-mile (1.6 kilometers) run around the field at a blistering pace of 6:22.

The Saipan Community School fourth grader’s time in the first leg was the fastest in the elementary division’s U9 category.

Mike Hou of Agape Christian School settled for second in last Saturday’s final leg with a time of 6:59, while Hopwood Middle School’s Raven Francisco came in third completing the course in 7:09.

Another worth watching is the girls U11 division with WSR’s Coume Kaga and Soleil Lamar of Grace Christian Academy the top contenders for the top prize.

Lamar finally shed her runner-up tag after topping the final leg submitting a time of 7:21. She finished second twice to Kaga in the first and second legs.

WPS’ Ashley DeCourtney, who was also a runner-up to Kaga in the third leg, this time placed second to Lamar in the final leg with a time of 7:42, while Elizabeth Xu Jzamei of ACS came in third at 7:45.

Kaga topped the first three legs with times of 6:43, 6:42, and 6:44 but chose to skip last Saturday’s possibly in preparation for the finals on Nov. 21.

Daniel Cho of SCS, who previously finished third and fifth each in the second and third legs, ruled the boys U11 age group with 7:45. His best time was 7:32 on Nov. 7.

Ricky Santos of WSR and Saniel Kang of SCS came in second and third to Cho with times of 8:32 and 8:35, respectively.

Jenny Zang of SCS ruled the U9 girls after submitting a time of 10:17, while William S. Reyes Elementary School’s Jasmine Saluta came in at second with 10:47.

Seo Young Baek, Zang’s schoolmate at SCS, placed third crossing the finish line in 11:35.

Kengo Sato of GCA bested SCS’ Alfred Baek by one second after clocking 9:21 against the 9:22 of the latter in the boys’ U7 division. Jose Peter Sablan, another SCS bet, finished third with 10:48.

Yujie Zhang of SCS also won by a hairline after a 10:20 time against the 10:21 of Garapan Elementary School’s Sarapina Terry. Abby Kim, also of SCS, was third with 11:06.