SIS, ACS runners gear up for X-Country finals

Students compete in the U7 and U9 races during the last leg of the 2017 NMA All Schools Cross Country Series held late last month at the Airport Field. (Contributed Photo)

Runners from Saipan International School and Agape Christian School gear up for the grand finale of 2017 Northern Marianas Athletics All Schools Cross Country Series on Nov. 11 at the Saipan Country Club in Chalan Laulau.

Start time for the final race is tentatively set for 7am, but NMA secretary general Robin Sapong said that NMA development officer Eli Rangamar is still coordinating the time with SCC officials and they will immediately make the announcement as soon as it is finalized. Sapong also reminded all runners who finished the race in the first three legs held the Airport field that they qualified, too for Saturday’s finals.

Tania Tan of SIS is expected to go all out after winning the last Oct. 28 event. She clocked 24:30 to enjoy a five-minute lead over ACS’ Tiffany Yang (29:30). Kyra Kim, also of ACS, came in third with 36:02. The SIS runner is fresh from a 23rd place finish in last month’s 2017 Asia Pacific Invitational Cross Country Championships in Guam where she registered a personal best of 23:18.4 or 43 seconds faster than the 24:01 she posted during NMA’s second leg on Saipan.

ACS’ Ella Zhang, who topped the second leg, chose not to run in last month’s event, but is expected to challenge Tan for the girls U18 crown. She finished 35th in the Asia Pacific Invitational with a time of 24:48.40.

Malika Miyawaki also of SIS and ACS teammates Min Yu and Tianbo Zhang are the other runners that represented Team Marianas in the Guam race. They are expected to figure prominently in this weekend’s finals.

Jonathan Xiong led Agape’s 1-3 finish in the boys’ U18 as he clocked in 14 seconds ahead (21:43) of SIS’ Alex Park (21:57), while Dawei Cai was third with 22:26. The three also competed in Guam with Xiong placing 76th.

Marianas High School’s Therize Millare led the girls’ U15 finishers with 15:07, followed by SIS teammates Videl Allen (17:03) and Stella McCallion (17:04). There was an ACS sweep in the boys side with Paul Cao (15:37), Arthur Liang (15:50), and Bobby Bae (16:18) in the Top 3.

It was another all-ACS show in the U13 age group with Faith Zuo (19:19), Elizabeth Xu (20:15), and Elvina Zhang (20:25) making up the Top 3 in the girls and Eric Chen (15:55), Samuel He (16:24), and Ray Qi (17:00) rounding out the podium finishers in the boys.

Eucon International School’s Andrei Chavez led the Top 3 finishers in the girls’ U11 class with a time of 8:36, followed by SIS’ Dana Lee (9:00), and Cathy Woo (9:08). William S. Reyes Elementary School teammates Imtiaz Nadim (8:15) and Zhi Lin (8:17) and Mt. Carmel School’s Kern Han (8:19) duplicated the feat in the boys U11 division.

Barbara Wang (ACS, 9:58), Maralicia Castro (WSR, 10:40), and Phoenix Gross (SIS, 12:17) were the Top 3 winners in the girls U9 division, while Kelly McCallion (SIS, 8:00), Alfred Baek (Saipan Community School, 8:46), and Yong Lim (ACS, 8:47) lorded it over in the boys U9.

The SCS pair of Elita Lee and Allie Brasuell crossed the finish line at the same time (12:32) in the girls U7 division, while Beatrice Gross came next at 12:48. Leinden Springer (9:45) and Jose Sablan (9:50) of SCS, and Oliver McCallion of SIS (10:18) were the Top 3 placers in the boys side.