Sikkel, Campbell dominate

Brilliant Star School’s Moshe Sikkel heads to the finish line during last Friday’s elementary division championship race in the 2020-2021 Public School System/Northern Marianas Athletics All Schools Cross Country Series at the CPA Airport Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Brilliant Star School’s Moshe Sikkel and Agape Christian School’s Jessie Campbell reigned supreme in the elementary division of the 2020-2021 Public School System/Northern Marianas Athletics All Schools Cross Country Series after topping last Friday’s championship races.

Sikkel, who won all the qualifying events this season, capped his dominance in the boys U11 age group after completing the 1.1-mile run in the finals at the CPA Airport Field in 7:02—his fastest time in the competition.

In the girls U11, Campbell checked in at 8:00 for the sweep in her division, as she also topped all three qualifying events in the elementary in her debut in the CNMI cross country competition.

Agape Christian School’s Jessie Campbell is on her way to ruling the girls U11 division race. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Campbell received gold medals during the awards ceremony after the finale and were joined in the podium by girls U12 runner-up Elizabeth Culp of Saipan International School and third placer Emma Sablan of Saipan Community School. Culp finished the one-lap race in 8:03, 12 seconds ahead of Sablan.

In the boys U11 division, Akeen Edvalson of Brilliant Star and third placer Finn Altizer of SIS rounded out the Top 3. Both Edvalson and Altizer broke the eight-minute barrier with the former submitting 7:30 and the latter recording 7:37. Sikkel, Edvalson, and Altizer were the only three runners to complete the course under the eight-minute mark.

SIS gets team top honors
Meanwhile, SIS took the top team honors in the elementary division with Altizer and Culp making it to the Top 2 teams in the individual race.

Saipan International School coach Kathy Ruszala, third left, joins her runners for a group photo before the start of last Friday’s elementary division championship race in the 2020-2021 Public School System/Northern Marianas Athletics All Schools Cross Country Series at the CPA Airport Field. (Contributed Photo)

The co-ed team rankings were determined based on the performance of each school’s Top 4 finishers (two boys and two girls). Each runner received points based on their finish and the school with the least points won the overall team championship.

The Geckos collected 29 points with Altizer (2 points) and Culp (5), Suki Peng (10) and Faith Arriola (12). Peng clocked in at 8:18 to finish No. 10 overall, while Arriola took the No. 12 spot after registering 8:36.

Sinapalo Elementary School runners
(in yellow t-shirts) head out to the course. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Saipan Community School (35) notched the runner-up award in the co-ed team division behind Richard Zhao (8:10) and Jose Sablan’s (8:11) 6 and 7 points in the boys division and Emma Sablan and Ali Brasuell’s (8:39) 9 and 13 markers in the girls category.

Round out the Top 3 honors in the co-ed team division was Agape, which gained 62 points or just a hair ahead of BSS. Agape drew 4 points from Campell, 15 from Benjamin Cai (8:48), 18 from Reyviel Van Escarlan (9:14), and 25 from Alice Duan (9:51).

Meanwhile, other schools entered in the team event were Kagman Elementary School (113), Isla Montessori School (117), William S. Reyes Elementary School (120), and Rota’s Sinapalo Elementary School (160). Mt. Carmel School also joined the finale races, but did not have enough runners to qualify for the team competition.