Mini Games medalists share monthly plum

All medalists representing the CNMI in the recent 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games were recognized for their efforts and performances during Thursday’s Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association meeting, and thus, were selected as athletes of the month for July.

Making up the list of July’s elite athletes were swimmers Nina Mosley, Nicole Calvo, Amanda Johnson, Myana Welch, Minerva Cabrera, Rezne Wong, David Palacios, Juan Camacho, and Michael Camacho; wrestler Joe Ocampo; table tennis players Budhi Gurung, Su Yong Dong, Chen Yin Ling, and Steve Lim; and triathletes Stephan Samoyloff, Anneka Sakovich, Dirk Sharer, Ketson “Jack” Kabiriel, Natasha Good. Melissa Coleman also made it to the elite list, medaling as a swimmer and triathlete.

The swim team netted 23 medals at the Palau National Swimming Pool in individual and relay competitions.

Spearheading the cast was female sensation Nina Mosley, who struck gold on opening night in the 100m Freestyle, and again on the final evening in the 50m Freestyle.

Mosley also earned silver in the 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke, and 50m Butterfly, and bagged bronze in the 400m Individual Medley and 200m Backstroke.

Palacios, meanwhile, enjoyed his return to the sport he loves by taking home silver in the 50m Backstroke, 100m Butterfly, 50m Butterfly, and 200m Butterfly.

Johnson grabbed silver in the 200m Butterfly; Coleman took bronze in the 800m Freestyle; Cabrera won bronze in the 100m Breaststroke, Welch took bronze in the 200m Breaststroke; and Juan Camacho pocketed the bronze in the 200m Backstroke.

The swimmers also earned six medals in relays, with three medals for the boys and three for the girls.

Mosley, Johnson, Calvo, and Coleman taking silver in the 800m Freestyle. Mosley, Coleman, Cabrera, and Calvo added another silver with their performance in the 400m Freestyle, and Welch, Cabrera, Johnson, and Mosley took silver in the 400m Medley.

Palacios, the Camacho brothers, and Wong won bronze in the 800m Freestyle and 400m Freestyle, and took home silver in the 400m Medley.

Mosley also won silver and Coleman bronze in the 5k Open Water Swim, brining the swim haul to 25.

For their part, Gurung, Chen, Su, and coach Lim, meanwhile, managed to take home the bronze in the team competition.

CNMI ping-pong had its shining moment against Solomon Islands, whose players were swept by the NMI representatives, 9-0. The NMI won 27 of the 34 games played, with Chen, Gurung, and Su taking care of business, rebounding from a 9-0 shutout suffered in the hands of Guam earlier.

The team also swept Marshalls, 9-0, allowing their opponents to take just five games, and took two of the nine games against New Caledonia in their opening bout and taking Fiji to the limit before falling, 5-4.

Ocampo then showed the warrior in him, earning silver despite wrestling with ribs, suffered during a practice session before the competition.

Despite the pain, Ocampo was eager to represent the CNMI the best he could and advanced to the gold medal round by defeating David Salapwa of the Federated States of Micronesia.

With all wrestlers knowing about his injury, Salapwa aimed Ocampo’s ribs, but despite taking so much out of the CNMI wrestler, was not able to beat Ocampo.

Ocampo finally rested and settled for the silver, giving Marshall Islands’ Waylon Muller the gold via walkover.

The triathletes added two more gold for CNMI in aquathon, with Sakovich achieving the feat in the women’s competition and all taking top honors in the team competition. Due to safety reasons, the bike portion of the triathlon was deleted and participants competed in two runs with a swim in between.

Sakovich completed the first run segment in 23:49, took 38 seconds in transition, completed the swim in 29:53, transitioned another 46 seconds, then capped her morning with a 25:55 run for a gold medal time of 1:21:03.

Coleman, a student at Saipan Southern High School, won the bronze after clocking in at 1:26:01.

Fully recovered from her swims, Coleman conquered the first run in 25:41, had a 35-second transition to the swim, swam for 30:24, took 45 seconds in the second transition, and finished strong with a run of 28:36.

Times for the top three finishers for each team were combined, and the team with the fastest time took gold. With that, CNMI edged Guam courtesy of the efforts of Sakovich, Samoyloff, and Sharer, who posted a combined time of 4:07:07.

Sharer finished in 1:22:43 while Samoyloff clocked in at 1:23:21.

NMASA also recognized members of the baseball, men’s and women’s fast pitch softball, athletics, tennis, outrigger canoeing, and beach volleyball teams as honorable mentions for their efforts in the Mini Games.