Wabol, May-December tandem are week’s best

Mr. Unorthodox Jess Wabol and the May-December tandem of Jeff Race and Mayuko Arriola topped the sports headlines last week.

Wabol was wonderful anew after the former Oleai Elementary School principal foiled Jeff Taylor’s title defense in last Saturday’s 7th Annual Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands Charity Classic held at the Marianas Country Club.

Wabol, despite the windy conditions, bested six other golfers in the Championship Flight to win the title in the first of the three major golf tournaments in the CNMI.

The Refaluwasch Golf Association tournament director fired a 37 in both the front and back nines to end up with a final score of 74 and enjoyed a three-shot lead over last year’s champion Taylor.

Race and Arriola, for their part, led nine other pairs that won their respective divisions in the 8th Annual Pacific Islands Club-Gatorade Tennis Championships played last weekend at the PIC courts.

Race completed a doubles sweep when he teamed up with Arriola in claiming the mixed doubles open title, beating the pair of Peter Loyola and Lydia Tan in Sunday’s finals, 6-2, 6-3.

Guam’s Team Haggan, meanwhile, swept the 18th edition of the Jam Attack, completing their back-to-back title bids in the two-day tournament held last Saturday and Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Haggan ruled both the men’s and women’s divisions after surviving the gallant stands put up respectively by Saipan’s Ol’Aces and YoYo’s.

Former Saipan Senior League All-Star Jon Salas is also making waves in the mainland after helping the Timberline High School Wolves return to the 5A State Championships in Boise, Idaho. Salas is the eldest son of former Saipan Little League Baseball Association president Joe and Cathy Salas of Kagman III.

Last week also saw Ji Hoon Heo compete in the 2008 Jeju International Junior Championships at the Yeonjeong Tennis Courts in Jeju City. Although, he did not do well in the tournament, the CNMI tennis star vowed to do better in future events in the Land of the Morning Calm.

The week also saw the continuation of games in the SBA Open 8-Ball League, 3rd Annual Budweiser-Saipan Major League, Inaugural FMI Inter-Color Basketball League, Inter-government Softball League, and the Saipan Little League Baseball Association.