Hopwood sweep in All Schools meet

Hopwood Middle School took both the girls and boys U14 overall titles in the 2019 Public School System/McDonald’s All Schools Track and Field Championships held over the weekend at the Oleai Sports Complex.

The Hilitais were the runaway winner in the boys division after several first place finishes in running and field events and combining for 176 points. Agape Christian School was at distant second with 109 points, while Dandan Middle School (41 points) came in at third. Tinian Junior Senior High School (40) and Francisco M. Sablan Middle School (21) rounded out the Top 5.

Hopwood swept the top honors in the sprints with Craig Padayao ruling the 100m (12.75 seconds), 200m (25.51 seconds), and 400m (1:01.88) runs. The school dominated the podium in the 400m run with Kristian David (1:04.36) and A.J. Ruben (1:04.70) placing second and third, respectively. Davis was also the runner-up in the 200m run (26.32 seconds) and Travis Kaipat (26.54 seconds) gave Hopwood another 1-2-3 finish. The Hilitais had the same results in the 100m run with M.J. David (12.96 seconds) in second place and Kaipat (13.17 seconds) in third.

In the field events, Hopwood won three out of five with Taisei Desebel prevailing in the long jump (5.10 meters), shot put (10.66m), and javelin (36.36m). Tinian’s Hombre Hocog and Agape’s Silas Xu topped the two other events with the former ruling the high jump (1.45m) and the latter lording it over in the discus throw (28.01m).

In other results, Hopwood’s Jim Maniago took the gold medal in the 3,000m run after checking in at 12:09.59, while Saipan Community School’s Charlie McDonald led in the 1,500m run (5:19.19), and Agape’s Caleb Dai won the 800m run (2:32.44).

Meanwhile, Hopwood banked on its domination in the field events to earn 139 points and clinch the overall championship in the girls U14 age group. Agape placed second after tallying 117 points, while Saipan International School (49), Tanapag Middle School (46), and FMS (29) completed the rankings.

Angel Roligat handed Hopwood four of the five gold medals at stake in the field events after winning the high jump (1.20m), shot put (7.41m), discus throw (18.40m), and javelin (18.86m). Agape’s Jenny Lin foiled Roligat’s bid for a sweep after topping the long jump event (3.64m), which the Lady Torchbearers dominated as Linxi Cai (3.38m) and Phoebe Cheng (3.34m) ended up at second and third place respectively.

Agape also won the gold medal in the 800m and 3,000m runs after Emma Pang clocked in at 2:58.28 and 13:51.07, while SIS’ Helen Kim reigned supreme in the 400m (1:12.54) and 1,500m race (6:12.51). In the sprints events, Tanapag’s Filomenaleonisa Iakopo ruled the 200m run (28.85 seconds), while Dandan Middle School’s Casey Cruz bagged the gold in the 100m race (13.43 seconds).

In the relays, Hopwood swept the boys 4x100m and 4x400m and also prevailed in the mixed event. In the girls division, Tanapag got the gold in the 4x100m, while Agape led the podium finishers in the 4x400m.