Southern, MHS rule MISO canoe

Saipan Southern High School and Marianas High School ended the 2014-2015 Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization the same way they did last year—champions of the season’s final event.

Saipan Southern High School’s boys team, right, and the girls team from Marianas High School celebrate after winning the 500m sprint distance course in last Saturday’s 2014-2015 Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization outrigger canoe finals in the waters off the Kilili Beach Park. (Jon Perez)

SSHS and MHS dominated their respective divisions to remain the overall champions of the MISO boys and girls outrigger canoe finals held last Saturday in the waters off the Kilili Beach Park across the Oleai Sports Complex.

It was Southern’s third straight boys crown as the Manta Rays were champions since 2012 to equal MHS’ record from 2009 to 2011. The Lady Dolphins, on the other hand, collected their fifth overall title and fourth consecutive with the Lady Manta Rays squeezing in a title win in 2010.

The Mantas collected a total of 110 points followed by the Dolphins with 86, while the Kagman High School Ayuyus finished third (38).

Southern topped both the 500m and 1,500m distances preliminaries with times of 2:38 and 8:42, respectively, to keep their favorite and team-to-beat tags in the three-cornered race.

MHS came in a close second in the sprint distance with 2:40, while Kagman ended up third (2:48).

It was the same result in the finals with Southern and MHS duplicating their preliminary heat times while Kagman was two seconds slower with 2:50.

Saipan Southern again finished first in the 1,500m prelims when they crossed the finish line in 8:42 followed by Kagman and MHS with 8:53 and 9:06, respectively.

The Mantas, however, was a bit slower in the 1,500m final when they posted a time of 9:05 but still won the race, while the Ayuyus kept their hold of the second spot (9:15) relegating the Dolphins to third (9:42).

Craig Aguon, Raymond Borja, Regino Celis, Gerald Flores, Jake Madamba, Tommy Reyes, J.P. Taitano, and Won Jong Seo are the members of the Carter Calma-coached Saipan Southern squad.

In the distaff side, the MHS girls squad collected 130 points after followed by the 59 markers of Saipan Southern while Kagman, despite showing up with five paddlers, had 34.

The Lady Dolphins both topped the 500m and 1,500m preliminary races submitting times of 3:01 and 9:51 with the Lady Mantas coming in second in the short distance with 3:07 while the Lady Ayuyus settled for third (3:15).

Kagman and Southern switched places in the long distance with 10:16 compared to the latter’s 10:22.

MHS was a bit slow in the finale after posting times of 3:04 (500m) and 10:19 (1,500m), while the same thing happened for SSHS and KHS in both events.

Southern ended up a close second in the 500m with 3:09 and Kagman was 14 seconds behind at 3:23.

They again swapped places in the 1,500m as Kagman’s five-person squad had the second best time in the long distance course with 10:41, while Southern was third (10:44).

Negahr Rastguiy (seat 1), Havika Farro (seat 2), Arah Manabat (seat 3), Rae Camacho (seat 4), and Rizzalyn Janairo and Annjeline Manabat are alternating at seat 5 with senior Jen Savellano as team captain.

Gretchen Decker, Marizel Hipponia, and Andy Nissen are the coaches for the MHS squads.