Yang rules another Cross Country leg

Agape Christian School’s Yang Sheng Ai booked her second win in the 2015 All Schools Cross Country Series held last Saturday at the Commonwealth Ports Authority Airport Field.

Agape Christian School’s Sophi Shie heads toward the finish line after completing the 3.2-mile run in the girls U18 division of last Saturday’s 2015 All Schools Cross Country race at the Airport Field.
(Jon Perez)

Yang led an all ACS finish in the girls U18 division clocking 28:24 in completing the 3.2-mile (5.1K) distance for high school runners.

She actually shaved more than two minutes off her winning time of 30:36 in the inaugural leg of the annual racing event last Oct. 24.

Sophie Shie again finished second but this time was a bit slower at 33:54 compared to the 31:46 she recorded also last Oct. 24.

Evangeline Liu, who was second to the last in the first leg with 42:29, made a huge improvement when she came in third at 34:44.

Marianas High School’s David Roberto, who did not join the opening leg, duplicated Yang’s feat in the boys U18 category. He clocked 14:04 for a full seven-minute lead over distant second placer Jason Wang of ACS (21:38).

Djay March Ong was a minute behind Wang as the now Saipan Southern High School bet submitted a time of 22:40. He was with MHS last year where he played for the reigning Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization boys basketball champions Dolphins.

Saipan Community School’s Ken Song was the fastest runner in the boys middle school division as he blitzed through the 2.1-mile (3.3k) course in 12:48.

SCS teammate Oliver Lee was second at 13:27, while Mt. Carmel School’s Dominic Torres finished third in 14:53.

Conatsu Kaga led a 1-2-3 finish for home school students in the U13 girls division with a time of 13:31, while Therize Millare, the winner last Oct. 24, clocked 18:01 to beat Ruschell Valino by two seconds (18:03).

It was another ACS sweep in the U15 girls division with Lyu Xi Le crossing the finish line in 20:10 followed by Xy Ling Ling’s 20:45. Sarah Wu came in third at 25:34.

Christian Villacrucis also booked his second win in the series as he was again the top U15 boys runner. He was a bit slower this time at 12:56 against his 9:00 last Oct. 24.

ACS bets Joseph Rui and Henry Hu came in second and third with times of 14:49 and 15:12 respectively.

The third leg of the Cross Country race will be on Saturday, Nov. 7, while the final leg is on Nov. 14. Both will be held at the Airport Field and will have 3:15pm as registration and 4pm start.

The order of the race on Nov. 7 will be elementary, middle, and high school divisions, while on Nov. 14 it will be middle and high school first followed by the elementary runners.

The venue for the Nov. 21 finals is still being arranged with the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort as the possible race site.