SVES, Hopwood tops in Cross Country

First of three parts

San Vicente Elementary School emerged victorious in the boys, while Hopwood Junior High School took top honors in the girls’ category of the 12-and-under age group in the 2005 All School Cross Country Meet Saturday at the CPA Airport Field.

San Vicente was the only school to field enough competitors to qualify for the team competition and easily went home with the first place trophy. Making up the SVES cast were Joel Chan, Adriel Chan, Jonathan Deleon Guerrero, Nikko Deleon Guerrero, Christian Villanueva, John Kim, and Philip Kim.

The competition, however, was dominated by rising star En Hong Pang of Marianas Baptist Academy, who ran like the wind and completed the one-mile task in a sterling 6:19 for the gold medal in the individual competition. Jesse Yamagishi of HJHS took silver in 7:34 while teammate Danny Bai bagged bronze with a time of 7:40.

Other top 10 finishers were Adriel Chan (7:51) and Philip Kim (7:59) of SVS, Jireh Huang (8:10) of Saipan Community School, Severino Alforeza (8:22) of HJHS, John Kim (8:24), Joel Chan (8:33), and Jonathan Deleon Guerrero (13:18) of SVES.

Relynn Sapong, the lone representative of Koblerville Elementary School, topped the girls’ competition after crossing the finish line in 6:48. She was followed by MBA’s Lisa Riley who clocked in at 8:10 while Madisa Onni of HJHS took bronze in 8:19.

Rounding up the top 10 were Ira Palero (8:34), Melanie Ramon (8:52), and Christine Tudela (9:00) of HJHS, Marystar Welch (9:10) of MBA, Young Chae Han (9:12), Lovely Francisco (9:29), and Kimberly Hipolito (9:40) of SVS.

For her part, Liane Riley of SCS won gold in the 10-and-under girls’ category after making her way past the finish line in 6:53, while Ilia Corella and Gabrielle Race of Whispering Palms School won silver and bronze. Corella finished the race in 7:52, while Race rested after running for 8:00. Also competing was Danica Baron of WPS, who placed fourth in 9:20.

Only two boys battled in the 10-and-under category, with Tony Bai of William S. Reyes Elementary School striking gold in 7:11 and Andrew Kimball taking silver in 8:07.

The Cross Country, which was hosted and organized by Northern Marianas Athletics, also featured competition in the 14-and-under and 18-and-under age groups.