Strong runs for MHS, Hopwood, and SCS

 Marianas High School, Saipan Community School, and Hopwood Junior High School turned in strong results in Northern Marianas Athletics’ second cross-country series.

The Dolphins swept the podium in the U18 boys division, while MHS took the first and third spots in the girls U18 category. Charles Bautista, Beouch Ngirchongor, and Inbum Choo gave MHS the Top 3 finish in the three-lap course that started and ended at the Civic Center in Susupe with runners heading to as far as the restroom across the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium and returning to the start and finish line by running along the shore.

Bautista’s 15 minutes and 55 seconds topped the field of 10 runners in the boys U18, while Ngirchongor and Choo submitted 16:28 and 18:05, respectively. Another MHS runner, Michael Mancao, led the race after two laps, but injured his ankle on his way back to the course for the final lap and did not finish the event.

In the girls U18, Chris Obaldo of MHS won with a time of 21:28, while Saipan Southern High School’s Thea Minor stole second place at 22:58, just one second ahead of MHS’ Reylynn Sapong (22:59). The girls U18 field drew 11 runners.

In the girls U14 division, which had runners doing two laps of the course, Hopwood’s Mikayla Lopez bested her eight schoolmates after timing in at 12:58. Zarinae Sapong and Rumina Litulumar placed second and third with times of 17:00 and 17:32, respectively.

Kevin Jack DeLeon Guerrero also of Hopwood topped the boys U14 field after clocking in at 11:13. Saipan Community School’s Dylan Ackerman and Kai Lee completed the Top 3 after recording 12:31 and 12:38, respectively.

Another Hopwood student, Djaymarch Ong, took the top spot in the boys U12, finishing ahead of SCS’ Elnathan Wong and Carl Dela Cruz. Ong broke the tape at 11:20, Wong at 12:23, and Dela Cruz at 13:00. Nine runners joined the U12 race, which also had participants doing two laps of the course.

In the girls U12, SCS’ Tammy Ackerman bested the field of five with an impressive time of 12:27. Seung Yeon Han and Stephanie Lee also of SCS finished second and third with times of 15:33 and 16:34.

Haruya Eda ruled the boys U10 race that had runners doing only one lap of the course. Eda clocked in at 6:18, beating teammates Ken Song (6:29) and John Paul Sablan (7:37). Six runners made up the field.

Garapan Elementary School’s Joshalyn D. Flores was the lone girls U10 competitor and finished the same course in 8:19. In the U8 division, SCS’ Jason Sablan and John Hong had a head-to-head with the former winning the duel after posting 06:29 against the latter’s 07:19.

Meanwhile, NMA will be holding the third series of the cross-country race on Nov.19 at the American Memorial Park.