Youth athletes recognized

Coume Kaga, seen here serving during last year’s North Pacific Regional Championships at the Pacific Islands Club hard courts, was named NMSA/TSL Foundation Female Student Athlete of the Month for January. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Young swimmer Juhn Tenorio, junior tennis player Coume Kaga, and Napu Outrigger Canoe Club’s Boys Junior Team 1 were the recipients of Northern Marianas Sports Association’s first monthly awards for the year.

Tenorio and Kaga were named NMSA/Tan Siu Lin Foundation Student Athletes of the Month for January, while Napu’s young paddlers took the Team of the Month award.

The Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan swimmer was recognized for setting two age group records in the boys 11 to 12 division during the Northern Mariana Island Swimming Federation Meet 4 held last Jan. 7 at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

The 12-year-old swimmer timed in at 1:13.67 in the 100m backstroke to shatter the nearly five-year mark of former Tsunami Saipan member Kaito Yanai, who registered 1:15.52 on Feb. 18, 2012. Tenorio’s other record was also in the backstroke—50m—as his 33.14 seconds in the one-lap race surpassed the 33.56 seconds he himself posted on Dec. 3 last year at the NMISF Meet 3.

Coume, on the other hand, got NMSA’s nod for the January plum after clinching a title in a junior tournament in Australia. She joined the 2017 Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships in Wodonga, Victoria and topped the consolation draw of the girls U14 singles event.

The 12-year-old Coume, who was with her older sister Conatsu in the same tournament, won her opening game in the main draw of the competition, but dropped her second round match to fall to the consolation bracket. After that loss, the CNMI junior player went on to sweep her last four games to bag the championship in her group and matched Conatsu’s earlier title win in the consolation draw of the 2017 Margaret Court Cup that was also held in the Land Down Under.

The Kaga siblings, along with Ji Min Woo and Seung Jin Paik, are still off-island, as they are in Fiji for a training scholarship with the ITF/OTF Regional Training Facility.

Back on Saipan, Napu’s Boys Junior Team 1 took the monthly award for ruling the 1,500m and 500m races in last month’s 2nd Annual Timmy Would Go Memorial Paddle Classic held in the waters off Kilili Beach. The winning group is composed of Hekiko Helgen, Ryan Aguon, Brandon Cabrera, Sam Litulimar, Kyle Reyes, and Leon Laniyo.

The Jason Tarkong-coached team defeated its fellow Napu paddlers, Saipan Paddling Club, Mt. Carmel School, and Guatdan Tasi of Guam.