Old, new winners in final leg

Saipan Community School’s Andrei Kaithlyn Chavez, right, heads to the finish line en route to winning the girls U9 division of the Northern Marianas Athletics’ 2016 All Schools Cross Country Series 4 held last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

A mix of old and new winners emerged in the elementary school division races in the fourth and final leg of Northern Marianas Athletics’ 2016 All Schools Cross Country Series held last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field.

Saipan Community School’s Yu Jie, San Vicente’s Kymo Porass and Kian Helgen, and Whispering Palms’ Dylan Mister prevailed anew, while Saipan Community’s Andrei Kaitlynn Chavez and Anika Camacho made it to the winners circle for the first time.

Camacho, after failing to land in the Top 3 in her first two appearances in the series, this time took the podium with her best time of 8:57 in the girls U11 division. She was the only runner in her age group to break the nine-minute barrier, as runner-up and fellow SCS runner Chloe Seo clocked in at 9:14. SCS had a Top 4 finish in the division with Katie Choi and Michelle Ryu coming in at third and fourth place with times of 9:28 and 10:00, respectively, while San Vicente’s Chelsea Lorenzo (14:21) completed the girls U11 field.

In the girls U9 age group, Chavez joined the cross country series for the first time this season and defeated 12 other runners in her division. The SCS student was the fastest girl and third overall in the elementary races after checking in at 7:46. Joining Chavez in the Top 3 in the division were Abbie Kim (9:21) and Huab Bacani (9:24).

Other finishers in the girls U9 were San Vicente’s Jenny Zhang (10:48), Rhiettazayne Mendiola (11:02), Sherynne Yang (11:49), Karmeann Cabrera (11:49), Tianna Villanueva (14:31), Bibi Shrestha (14:32), and Brynae Sablan (15:27), Mt. Carmel School’s Quemari Duenas (12:30), Agape Christian School’s Mary Fu (12:46), and SCS’ Fiona Kim (16:17).

In the girls U7, Series 2 winner Jie Yu of SCS got her second victory after finishing the one-mile race in 10:49. She prevailed against Series 3 top placer Phoenix (12:09) and Beatrice (15:00) Gross of Saipan International School and San Vicente’s Madison Dela Rosa (12:14).

In the boys division, Helgen earned his third win this season after besting 12 other runners in the U9 age group. The Series 1 and 2 top finisher registered 7:02—the fastest time in the elementary division—to beat Grace Christian Academy’s Takeru Jim (7:47) and SCS’ Alfred Baek (8:12) for the top honors.

San Vicente’s Bryce Royal (8:41) came in at fourth and was followed by SCS’ Nicholas Taisacan (8:44), MCS’ Irie Camacho (10:55), SCS’ Drei Camacho (11:27), MCS’ Maui Silva (11:31), Agape’s Wen Jie (11:41), and San Vicente’s Aaron Martinez (13:06), Gregory Ngotel (13:22), Abraham Sablan (13:26), and Ohick Ragbonshe (17:14).

In the boys U11, Dylan Mister made it back-to-back as his 7:35 in last Saturday’s race beat the times of eight other runners in his division. Mister was the second fastest runner in the elementary races and the only one in his division to complete the one-lap course under eight minutes. San Vicente’s Daniel Wang tallied 8:52 to rank second, while his schoolmate Taylor Haddy rounded out the Top 3 after clocking in at 9:05.

Other finishers in the boys U11 were Agape’s Bo Chen (9:10), Eucon International School’s John Yu (9:13), Whispering Palms’ Mark Church (9:19), San Vicente’s Aizeah Hocog (9:51), Agape’s Jack Wu (10:05), and San Vicente’s Antonio Cabrera (12:40).

Porass duplicated Dylan Mister’s two straight wins after ruling the U7 division. The San Vicente student timed in at 9:20 to down schoolmate Chase Agulto (10:02) and MCS’ Austin Tagabuel (11:48). Rounding out the age group’s finishers were MCS’ Jess Jiang (13:05), San Vicente’s Eloy Deleon Guerrero (13:30), SCS’ William Guo (16:04), and MCS’ Keanu Silva (16:37) and Donald Tagabuel (19:41).

Last weekend’s Series 4 was sort of an “extra leg” as the organizing NMA decided to hold one more event after locking up the Nov. 19 date for the championship at the Laolao Bay Golf and Resort.

There were also races in the middle school and high school divisions and results will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Friday issue.