Tan leads NMSA June honor roll

Tania Tan poses with her first place medal in the L’Occitane Race For Vision 5K Run held early this month in Malaysia. (Contributed Photo)

Saipan International School’s Tania Tan was handed the Tan Siu Lin Foundation/NMSA Female Student Athlete of the Month award for June after winning medals for the CNMI during the Oceania Micronesian Regional Championships 2018 held at the Oleai Sports Complex.

Tan took the gold medals in the 3,000m and 5,000m runs in the regional tournament held last month and posted personal both times in both events. She timed in at 12:20.99 in the 3,000m race and 21:49.99 in the 5,000m. The 17-year-old student also participated in the 1,500m run and won a silver medal after checking in at 5:39.64.

Then a day after the Oceania Micronesian Regional Championships 2018 concluded, Tan competed in the 25th Tom Picarro Memorial Fun Run and was the first female finisher of the seven-kilometer race after clocking in at 29:38.

With her impressive runs in last month’s competition, Tan qualified for the 2018 Micronesian Games, but will not make the trip to Yap this weekend due to an earlier commitment and the exclusion of her race (marathon) from the calendar of events in the quadrennial meet.

Instead of going to Yap, Tan went to Malaysia early this month and won the L’Occitane Race For Vision 5K Run. She did the charity event held to help raise awareness to fight avoidable blindness with her mom, Lydia, and has lined up a couple of races in the remaining months of 2018.

“I will most likely join the Oceania Cross Country Championships in August in Australia, the Asia Pacific Invitational Cross Country Championships in October in Guam, and maybe the Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii in December. I will also join the all schools cross country races in Saipan as it will be my last year since I’m a senior in August,” Tan said.

Meanwhile, two more athletes who represented the CNMI to the Oceania Micronesian Regional Championships 2018 made it to the NMSA June honor roll.

Sprinter Zarinae Sapong was named Female Athlete of the Month, while Nick Gross took the same title in the men’s division.

Sapong won the gold medal in the 100m run with her personal best time of 12.25 seconds and then earned a silver in the 200m race with another PB (27.77 seconds). Gross, on the other hand, got the gold medals in the javelin throw (49.74 meters) and hammer throw (21.52m).