Santos, Guam’s Bautista and Elwell bag gold

From left, the CNMI’s Emmanuelle Aquino, Guam’s David Bautista, and the CNMI’s Raymond Olopai during the awards ceremony of the Marianas Cup weightlifting competition last Saturday.(LEIGH GASES)

CNMI’s Raymond Santos and Guam’s David Bautista and Ethan Elwell bagged gold medals in their respective divisions in the very competitive Marianas Cup 2023 weightlifting competition last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Overall in the men’s open, CNMI collected four gold medals, while Guam brought home two. In the youth/junior division, two gold medals went to CNMI and three went to Guam.

Santos was the lone entry of the 67-kg weight class and had a total weight lifted of 215 kg. His best snatch was 95 kg and his best clean & jerk was 120 kg.

From left, the CNMI’s Aiden Gimed, the CNMI’s Jaden Andrew, and Guam’s Malachi Lujan during the awards ceremony of the youth/junior divisions in the Marianas Cup weightlifting competition last Saturday. (LEIGH GASES)

In the 81-kg division, Guam’s David Bautista bested the CNMI’s Emmanuelle Aquino and Raymond Olopai. Bautista won gold after a best snatch lift of 105 kg, best clean & jerk of 135 kg, and a total weight lifted of 240 kg. 

Second was Aquino with a total weight lifted of 204 kg. His best snatch was 90 kg and his best clean & jerk was 114 kg. Olopai came in third place with his overall weight lifted of 194 kg. Ninety kg was his best snatch, while 104 kg was his best clean & jerk.

For Ethan Elwell, he topped the 96-kg weight class, with a total weight lifted of 275 kg. His best snatch was 130 kg and his best clean & jerk was 145 kg.

In the male youth/junior divisions, the CNMI and Guam accumulated three gold medals each.

The 61-kg weight class was topped by Guam’s Duena Danford with a snatch of 60 kg and clean & jerk of 85 kg for a total weight of 145 kg.

The silver medalist was the CNMI’s Jaden Andrew with a snatch of 64 kg and clean & jerk of 79 kg for a total weight of 143 kg.

In the junior 61 kg division, Guam’s Ezekiel Cabaccang won gold with a snatch of 90kg and clean & jerk of 110kg for a total weight of 200 kg. 

Gold and silver in the youth/junior 73-kg weight class was Guam’s Malachi Lujan with a snatch of 55 kg and clean & jerk of 76 kg for a total weight of 131 kg.

In the junior 73-kg weight class, the CNMI’s Aiden Gimed won gold with a snatch of 66 kg and clean & jerk of 77 kg for a total weight of 143 kg. 

Joseph Pangelinan completed the CNMI’s gold rush as he bagged gold for the youth and/junior divisions with a snatch of 83 kg and clean & jerk of 102 kg for a total weight of 185 kg.

For Santos, he said this time around, his diet was on point thanks to Lone Fox. Though this time he did not break any personal bests, he was glad he did not “bomb out.” He added that Angel [San Nicolas] helped him out during his warmups. 

As for the postponement of the Micronesian Games, he said “I guess we have more time to train. I will continue training and trying my best to get stronger while dropping my body weight. Staying motivated and not lazy has always been a challenge for me. So we will try and stay on course with training.”
For 33-year-old Bautista, competing here was fun and he also made new friends. “I came here for the cohesion and working together with Saipan because I want this competition to be a big thing in Micronesia.” 

“I look forward to many future competitions and seeing the youth come up,” he said.
Results of the women’s division will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.