Santos, Bang top Open 5K of Gecko 5000

Out of the 750 registered participants for the Gecko 5000—the biggest participation of this event to date—cross-country repeat winner Victor Nash Santos along with avid runner Ann Bang topped the Open 5K Division that was held concurrently with the third qualifier of the PSS/NMA All Schools Cross-Country 2024-2025 at the Banzai Cliff last Saturday morning.

The 5K course stretched from the Banzai Cliff to just up the road toward Suicide Cliff and back.

Saipan International School’s Santos is still the fastest runner this cross-country season and added another first-place finish under his belt in the open division. He finished first in the high school division 3-mile race, had a quick break, then ran the open with a time of 19:48.

Second place was Jordan Ruiz at 20:30, and third place was Jayden Lim at 22:05.

In the women’s division, Bang cleared everyone with a time of 26:22. Second place was Angela Taflinger at 27:18, and third was Shawna Brennfleck with 28:30.

Santos, the high school junior, said of his incredible run that morning, “I wanted to run again since a lot of the SIS community were running, too. I still had some energy left in me and after winning the first one I initially planned to at least get Top 3 on the second run.”

He said of the course, “It was a bit hard with a lot of uphill, but it made the course fun coming back as it was all downhill. I was way prouder to finish first in the first race [high school cross country]. I was going against many of the best runners in Saipan and they helped push me. I also finished with a much larger crowd so the environment felt nicer, too.”

For Dr. Ron Snyder, SIS headmaster and coach and meet director, he said of this year’s turnout, “The turnout was absolutely amazing. It far exceeded expectations and was the biggest All Schools event and Gecko 5000 Fun Run to date. With the parents who were there supporting their students, we far exceeded 1000 people for the event and 750 were registered participants.”

He added, “SIS really showed its school spirit with many of the runners turning around after their All Schools Races and participating in the Open 5K run as well. Nash Santos handily won the HS Boys race with a sub-19 minute mile 5K and then turned around and won the Open 5K Division an hour later, taking home two gold medals.”