Learning experience for Miller, Sapong

The 2015 Oceania Athletics Association Area Championship served as a learning experience for youngsters Evan Miller and Zarinae Sapong.

Zarinae Sapong competes in the 4×100 meter relay in last Saturday’s Public School System/McDonald’s All-School Championship at the Hopwood Junior High School field. (Jon Perez)

Miller and Sapong were part of a six-member Team CNMI, which was coached by Ron Olopai that competed in the area championship held early this month at Barlow Park in Cairns, Australia.

Rachel Dominique Abrams, Beouch Ogumoro Ngirchongor, Gerald Castillo, and Donavin Ada, who won bronze in boys javelin throw, were the other Team CNMI members.

Miller said that he would now take practice more seriously since he could have done better if he gave more time in training.

“I could say that I performed better in the 200m race compared in the 100m. It’s still something that I need to work on,” said Miller, who posted personal best times of 12.73 seconds (16th) and 25.74 seconds (17th) in the 100m and 200m sprints, respectively.

Though his opponents in Cairns overwhelmed him, Miller is optimistic with his budding athletics career.

“Those competing in Oceania are all huge and fast. I was shocked but I think I’ll match up to them the next time,” said Miller, who was into basketball before being recruited by coaches Elias Rangamar and Robin Sapong to athletics.

He said that he would also stick with track and field since it has greatly improved his running ability in basketball.

“I think I’ll be sticking to both sports ’cause track really improved me in my finish to the rim. I can outrun my defender and beat him to the basket,” he added.

“Now, I have to work on my cycling when I run. My stamina and probably my shotput throw too. In everything else, I think I’m good to go.”

Sapong, who was part of the 4 x 100m relay silver-medal winning Team CNMI in last year’s Pohnpei Micronesian Games, competed in her second Oceania championship after seeing action when the Cook Islands hosted the event last year in Rarotonga.

Abrams, Friendly Joy Pena, and Lia’mwar Rangamar were the other members of that 4x100m relay team.

“The competition level in the Area championship is much higher compared to that of the Micronesian Games. There were more athletes from a wider variety of places,” she said.

Personally, Sapong said that she was not satisfied with her performance. “I believe I could have done better. One of the things that I could improve on would be my take off on the starting blocks and my reaction time.”

She finished 13th in the girls 100m and 200m runs with times of 13.91 and 28.97 seconds, respectively.

Meeting other veteran athletes in the Oceania region also gave her the chance to learn new things that would help her with her training.

“I’ve learned more about the other athletes in the Oceania Area and the type of workouts they incorporated into their training.”