Hail to the champs, other breakthrough performances

It’s not right to look at them as missing the bus or even that they are on the outside looking in when it comes to the Top 10 in sports in 2005. All of them would’ve easily made it to the list if not for superlative performances of the 2005 Palau medallists, the drive-for-five of the Junior Leaguers, the back-to-back-to-back accomplishment of Bud Light-Toyota Tundra, the sterling accomplishments of the tankers, and Ji Hoon Heo’s vicious backhand. That’s the reason why Saipan Tribune made an entirely separate category for honorable mentions, which are listed in no particular order below.

Ford Rangers hoist SML championship

After losing the first game in the best-of-five series, the Ford Rangers shocked the local baseball world as they upset the Northern Yankees to win the Saipan Major League championship by winning three consecutive games at Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

The squad clocked in a 7-4 score in the finale as Craig Sanchez and John Reyes split Most Valuable Player honors.

A day after pitching a complete game that gave his team a 2-1 edge in the series, Mr. September (Sanchez) came from behind the plate to close the door on the pinstripers by not allowing a run and fanning three in the final three innings.

Basketball crown champs

Also deserving recognition for their accomplishments are 2005 basketball champions, namely Toyota Prius of the BANMI Men’s 25-and-under Basketball League, Southern Sonics of the Saipan Rotary Youth Basketball League, Mt. Carmel School Knights of the Marianas Interscholastic Sports Association High School Basketball League, San Antonio 69ers of the Island-wide Village Youth Basketball League, Visminda-Nel Atalig of the United Filipino Organization Basketball League, Samahang Ilokano at Pangasinense of the MDX Amateur Radio Club Basketball League, and Dai-Ichi Hotel Saipan Beach of the Mobil Oil Marianas Co-ed Basketball Invitational.

Rocball: Pride of the CNMI

Mwaliyas rose to the top and were crowned Rocball champions after stunning pennant champion SKN, 3-1, in their World Organized Rocball High School League best-of-five series last May.

Heavy hitter Pedro Iguel took home the most valuable player award after leading the team with 35 points on an ace and two xunks, five goals and seven kees.

Marianas Cup Volleyball Festival
stirs local interest

Koichi Nishimura and Tatsuo Yamamoto cruised to an easy win in the 15-team men’s division of the 13th Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival at the Pacific Islands Club, while Ryoko Tokuno and Chiaki Kusuhara rallied from the depths of the losers’ bracket to down the team that sent them there in the finals on the women’s side.

The twin towers of Nippon came to Saipan on a mission, as Nishimura and Yamamoto left the main court of the PIC with a perfect 5-0 record and the championship by knocking off fellow Japanese professional Satoshi Watanabe and local veteran of the beach volleyball scene Nick Castro in straight sets, 21-7 and 21-14.

Tokuno and Kusuhara, on the other hand, defeated Eiko Koizumi and Shinako Tanaka to take their second Marianas Cup title in three years by winning two of three sets in the final game that went down to the wire. The champs jumped out to take the first set 21-17, but quickly had the tables turned on the in the second, as Koizumi and Tanaka flipped the script 21-18 to force a third set up to 15 points.

Dannie Robles and Mark Halstead
topbill bowling

While bowling under the flag of Cooking Gas in the Philippine Bowling Association Friday Night League, 13-year veteran Danny Robles made history after knocking down a strike in every frame to finish with a perfect game at the Capitol Bowling Center last August.

He is just the fourth kegler to accomplish the feat in NMI history and first to do so at the CBC. The other three perfect games were bowled by Benny Pangelinan, Jaime Sasamoto, and Jonathan Hensley.

Meanwhile, Mark “The Shark” Halsread opened 2005 with style after winning the season-ending Pepsi King of the Lanes tenpin Bowling Tournament.

The 39-year-old southpaw topped the nine-game roll-off and outdueled tourney-surprise Noel Sicat in the finals to hoist the championship trophy and pocket the $1,000 first-place prize.

He copped first place after rolling 1,812 pinfalls for a 201.33 average.

Mixed Martial Arts takes off

Fury III: Fighting Islands took no holds barred-mixed martial arts to another level after fighters from Guam, Saipan, and Japan pounded each other in the spiketagon last April at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Trench Tech-Purebred Saipan carried the load of continuing the sport and hosted Trench Warz on November as a jam-packed crowd was entertained with 16 fights in various disciplines.

Trench Tech’s Cuki Alvarez and Frank Camacho also did well in the year as both won their respective fights in Guam.

MRA holds MX Championships

Jovie Saulog of the Philippines stole the show in the 2005 MX Championships hosted by the Marianas Racing Association at the Cowtown Raceway Park after topping two categories—250cc Expert and Veteran Class—in July.

Finishing in second in the 250cc Expert was New Zealand’s James “Robo” Robinson, while 2004 champion Popeye Rubi had a rough time on the track and settled for third place.

Saipan’s Steve Sablan also put up a phenomenal charge and finished second to Saolog in the Veteran Class, while Japan’s Salukawa Masaaki maneuvered well enough for third place.

Robinson, meanwhile, won three of the four heats in the 125cc Expert category to take top honors. Saulog finished in second place overall, while Saipan favorite Cuki Alvarez represented well and took home third place.

Bodybuilding wows crowd

After coming up a little short in the 2004 competition, John March Ong put on a show in the 2005 Northern Mariana Islands Bodybuilding Championships last June at the Pedro P. Tenorio-Multi-Purpose Center.

The 28-year-old Saipan Tribune employee edged 2004 champion Jose Ngiraibuuch in a tie-breaking pose down after the two garnered identical scores from the judges during the overall bodybuilding champion competition.

Ong earned a ticket to the overall champion competition after taking top honors in the middleweight competition. He also received the Most Improved Body Builder trophy.

SFA scores big with Saipan International Fishing Tournament

The captain and crew from the Charlie Cat returned from Guam to reel in a 422.40-lb. marlin to the repeat as the ace anglers of the 21st Annual Saipan International Fishing Tournament.

Back-to-back 12-hour days on the seas proved fruitful, as the captain Quang Ly and Jesus Ciura were unable to match the previous year’s success on opening day, but when the call came in over the radio that the Charlie Cat was coming in, everyone at the marina knew something big was on the way.

The crowd around the scales doubled in the time it took for the big crane truck to hoist the creature from the boat and bring it to the scale, as the Charlie Cat became the first repeat champions in the 21-year history of the Saipan International Fishing Tournament’s grand prize.

Net gains for NMIFA

A group of parents and supporters of youth sports filled the gap left when the Commonwealth Youth Soccer Organization faded into obscurity by reorganizing the world’s most popular sport on Saipan to form the Northern Marianas Islands Football (Soccer) Association.

Organizers were overwhelmed by the response from the community as nearly 300 children turned out to register for the first season of play.