Mosley strikes gold on opening night

KOROR, Palau—Nina Mosley and the rest of the Northern Marianas delegation did not say goodbye to Day 1 of the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games without something to show for, with Mosley grabbing a gold medal, the swimmers accounting for all five medals, and the female netters advancing to the medal round of the team tennis competition.

Mosley was as fast as a mermaid possessed breezing through the waters as she dominated at the Palau National Swimming Pool in Meyuns en route to claiming gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Mosley broke into the medal standings with a personal time in the women’s 100m Freestyle, finishing in a sterling 1:00.04 to beat out Esther Meallet of New Caledonia and Guam’s Manami Lijima for the gold. Meallet is reported to be a member of France’s national swimming team.

“I was really surprised,” Mosley said during an interview. “I didn’t want to go into the race expecting too much of myself, but I just do what my coach says and remember all the little small stuff and touch the wall and got the medal,” she added, citing that she swam a perfect race.”

Mosley was back in the pool for the 400m Individual Medley, and put on another good show, bagging a bronze courtesy of a time of 5:33.4, another personal best.

She then closed out by teaming up with 13-year-old Amanda Johnson, Nicole Calvo, and Melissa Coleman to take home silver in the women’s 800m Freestyle Relay.

“Melissa smashed them in the first part and that really took the toll for our races, and Nicole did really well and so did Amanda,” she said. “I guess if I didn’t race in the 400m IM, I probably would’ve done better in the relay.”

Mosley was back in the pool last night after qualifying for the 200m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke, and 400m Freestyle.

“I’m going to do the same thing I do going into every other races…not going to expect to much from myself and come out successful,” she said, adding that she really wants to get another gold in the 50m Freestyle.

Meanwhile, fellow swimmer David Palacios bagged two silver medals, opening the competition by taking home the CNMI’s first medal after clocking in at 28.75 seconds in the men’s 50m Backstroke, only trailing New Caledonia’s David Thevenot (28.21 seconds).

Palacios then closed the night for Team CNMI by taking the same medal in the 100m Butterfly in 1:00.1. Olivier Saminadin of New Caledonia won the event in 57.89 seconds.

As of press time, the swim team was still competing in the finals of events scheduled for last night. Mosley, Coleman, Minerva Cabrera, Myana Welch, Rezne Wong, Johnson, and Palacios were battling for more medals. All, including brothers Juan and Michael Camacho, posted personal best times in all events earlier in the day.

Swim coach Mike Stewart was pleased with the performances and acknowledged the efforts of the team.

“I’m pleasantly surprised,” said Stewart. “I thought maybe we’ll come out of this meet with 10 medals and after the first night having five was awesome and I didn’t think we’d get a gold but Nina had such a phenomenal swim. That was one of those quantum-leap swims, a great hard swim. Everybody, I couldn’t ask for anything better out of them.”

Stewart said although happy with the outcome of Day 1, he said much work still needs to be done, and will be taken a day at a time.

“Looking at the old cliché…one day at a time,” he said. “This is a new day and we got to put ourselves in a position to get into the finals tonight and once in finals tonight, we got to go out and get medal-hungry again.”

Netters eye bronze

Meanwhile, the NMI netters will play for bronze today, battling either Palau or Samoa, who faced each other in the other half of the semifinals yesterday.

CNMI put up a good fight against No. 1 seed New Caledonia, with Amanda Weindl and Kana Aikawa making their presence felt and proving that they can handle playing with the region’s best.

Weindl played tough but lost to Yumiko Justin 1-6, 4-6 and Aikawa took New Caledonia No. 1 player Stephanie Dillucio to the limit before faltering.

Aikawa stunned her opponent, using her great court coverage to take the opening set, 6-4. Dillucio, however, came back and took the second and third sets 6-2 and 6-1. The two sets were tougher than the score indicated, with both players engaging in long rallies on countless occasions. Aikawa cramped up in the third set, but showed the warrior in her by continuing and finishing the match.

“I think this is probably one of the most exciting things that happened to tennis in the NMI since Kana got her tennis scholarship,” coach Jeff Race said. “To be playing for a medal is just unbelievable. We’ve had a tennis program for about 15 years and it’s taken some time to mature and now we’re seeing the fruits of that labor and I really hope that our women can have good matches tomorrow. It will just be incredible to take a medal home for tennis.

If Aikawa and Weindl win today, it will be the first tennis medal for the NMI in the SPG.

Rain interrupts games again

In other news, rain interrupted outdoor games yesterday, forcing officials to postpone CNMI’s baseball bout against the Federated States of Micronesia. Both men’s and women’s fast pitch softball team games were also postponed, and as of press time, seemed like both teams weren’t going to take the field.

In athletics, 16-year-old sprinter Darrel Roligat placed fifth in his 100m heat, crossing the finish line in 11.6 seconds, while teammate Dexter Dillay placed sixth in his heat in 12.35 seconds. Roligat still has one event left in the 200m while Dillay will see action in the long jump later this week.

Also, beach volleyball’s Nan Inthraluk and Don Dunlop dropped their bout against Fiji in straight sets. Scores were not available as of press time.

Wrestlers Joe Ocampo and Slade Adelbai also made their Palau entrance, arriving Monday night. The two had an early morning mile-and-a-half run yesterday before working on several wrestling techniques in the afternoon.

“We’re just getting used to the climate and tested out the mat here,” Adelbai said. “We’re doing good and we’re ready for the competition.”

Adelbai will see action in the Heavyweight Freestyle while Ocampo competes in the 85-kilo Freestyle.