Special recognition ceremony rescheduled

The special recognition ceremony for medalists and delegates of the recent 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games originally scheduled to be held last night at the Saipan Grand Hotel was postponed but has been rescheduled for next week.

During its monthly meeting at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium conference room last month, the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association decided that it will hold the ceremony in honor of the athletes, coaches, and officials that made up the CNMI delegation to Palau, as well as individuals who assisted the delegation.

According to a staff of the Saipan Grand Hotel, the ceremony has been moved to Sept. 14.

NMASA recently recognized all medalists as athletes of the month for July, and gave honorable mention to all participating CNMI athletes.

Among the medalists 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, and 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 Mosley, who struck gold on opening night in the 100m Freestyle, and again on the final evening in the 50m Freestyle.

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

Palacios medalled in the 50m Backstroke, 100m Butterfly, 50m Butterfly, and 200m Butterfly; Johnson in the 200m Butterfly; Coleman in the 800m Freestyle; Cabrera in the 100m Breaststroke; Welch 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 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, while Ocampo showed the warrior in him, earning silver despite wrestling with ribs, suffered during a practice session before the competition.

The triathletes added two more gold medals for the CNMI in aquathon, with Sakovich achieving the feat in the women’s competition and all taking top honors in the team competition.

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

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.

Honorable mention went to members of the baseball, men’s and women’s fast pitch softball, athletics, tennis, outrigger canoeing, and beach volleyball teams.