Saipan Tribune

Friday, May 24, 2013

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

4 named February's best

Four athletes were named February's top athletes after their impressive performance in separate tournaments last month.

Swimmer Miku Tammy and volleyball player Clay McCullough-Stearns were voted as NMASA/TSL Foundation Athletes of the Month, while Tyce Mister and Chenny Lizama were named Male and Female Athletes of the Month.

Ten-year-old Tammy was cited for her record-breaking swim in a Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation-sanctioned meet last Feb. 6 at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. The Tsunami Saipan swimmer timed in at 19:41.53 in the 800m freestyle to eclipse the 12:22.78 Saipan Swim Club's Amanda Johnson recorded on April 28, 2001 in the girls 9 to 10 age group. Tammy's time is also faster than the girls 11 to 12 mark (10:51.15) that Myana Welch logged in November 2001.

McCullough-Stearns, winner of the 2012 NMASA/TSL Foundation Male Student Athlete of the Year, earned another recognition for his consistent placing in various competitions last month.

The Saipan International School student helped his team finish runner-up in the NMIVA Sunset League that featured eight squads in a four-person co-ed beach volleyball format. Next up for McCullough-Stearns was the For the Love of Volleyball tournament where he and Jazz Roskow placed second.

McCullough-Stearns suited up for this third event of the month via the 2013 Annual Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Youth Doubles Tournament and he and teammate Wilton Laniyo bested 11 other teams in the boys U18 division.

Then for his fourth straight tournament in February, McCullough-Stearns went to Guam to play against the pros in the Marianas Cup Pro-Am and finished fifth with his partner. The off-island event drew 30 teams composed of players from the host, CNMI, Japan, Canada, California, and Hawaii.

Mister also joined the Pro-Am tournament in Guam and placed fourth and earlier played in the For the Love of Volleyball and won the men's division crown. These twin achievements earned the many-time member of the CNMI Beach Volleyball Team the NMASA award for February.

Lizama missed a podium finish in the For the Love of Volleyball tournament, but made good account of herself in two other competitions. She and partner Knohlynn Gechig ruled the girls junior division of the 2013 Annual Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Youth Doubles Tournament, giving Lizama her second straight crown in the same event.

Before the Marianas Cup, Lizama organized a grass volleyball competition and went on to win the girls tiara with teammate Hannah Campos.