New winners in May Masters’ team event

The foursome of Simon Manacop, Richard Leong, Rusty Musca, and Raymond Angeles spoiled the three-peat bid of its rival team in the 32nd CNMI May Masters Tournament.

Manacop and company collected 2,315 pinfalls to beat the 2,211 of back-to-back champions Alex Castro, Raul Dumapit, Paul Pangelinan, and Percy Omechelang in the team event of the annual competition held late last month at the Saipan Bowling Center. Manacop and his three other teammates avenged their loss to the same team last year besides averting the three-peat.

The new champion squad leaned on the 696 three-game performance of Manacop to triumph this year. Manacop, who had 191 in Game 1 closed out strong in the short series with his 200-plus pinfalls in the last two games (260 and 239). His 260 was the highest in the field and his three-game total also topped the 24-player competition.

Angeles was the second best scorer on the winning team with his 593 (197, 205, and 191), followed by Leong with 545 (170, 210, and 165), and Musca with 481 (158, 191, and 132). Dumapit led the runner-up squad with his 617, Castro carded 564, while Omechelang and Pangelinan registered 527 and 503, respectively.

Completing the Top 3 were the team of Ronald Batac, Jorge Soledad, Edward Baluyan, and Lito Teodoro, who combined for 2,135. Cash prizes were handed to the Top 3 finishers during the awards ceremony at the Nami Bar of the Kanoa Resort, while the champions also received trophies. Five other squads joined the team event.

In the women’s team event, new winners also emerged with Janice, Carrie, and Diana Camacho, and the returning Emi Williams earning 1,988 pinfalls to prevail against Kathy Mersai, Gigi Zapanta, Ron Cal, and Gloria Omechelang (1,931).

Diana Camacho anchored her team’s victory after recording 522 pinfalls (159, 211, and 152). Duplicating her mother’s 500-plus game was Carrie, who nailed 501 (166,163, and 172), while Williams and Janice Camacho logged 499 (176, 153, and 170) and 466 (149, 183, and 134) pinfalls, respectively,Omechelang had 500-plus pinfalls, too to pace the runner-up squad. Mersai and Cal registered 484 apiece, while Zapanta earned 440.

Lori Terre, Dianne Chong, Lynn Santos, and Mersai rounded out the Top 3 after gathering 1,921 pinfalls. Last year’s champions Elena Soll, Yho Villavicencio, Lala Taitano, and Tess Fabie dropped to fourth place with their 1,911 pinfalls, while the quartet of Sue Ellis, Maridel Camacho, Omechelang, and Cora Muna posted 1,776 pinfalls to complete the five-team field.
Meanwhile, result in the singles, doubles, and all events will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Friday edition.