Cagers are top athletes for May

National players Peter Camacho and Beverly Igitol were named athletes of the month for May by the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association in their monthly meeting held last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Camacho got the nod for male athlete of the month after leading Toyota Ol’Aces to its second consecutive BANMI Budweiser Cup championship last May 12 at Ada Gym.

The 5’11” swingman scored 31 points in Ol’Aces’ Game 1 victory and then pumped in 23 points in the team’s title clinching win in Game 2. For his sterling play the 29-year-old police officer was named MVP of the finals.

Igitol, for her part, won the female athlete of the month plum for May after steering Mobil to a runner-up finish in the 2004 Mobil Oil Marianas Co-ed Invitational Basketball Tournament last May 30 also at the Ada Gym.

For the season, the veteran of last year’s Micronesia 22-and-under Basketball Tournament averaged 28.3 points a game. She led Mobil to a perfect 9-0 win-loss record in the eliminations and was named women MVP.

Aside from Camacho and Igitol, the sports body also picked swimmers Juan Camacho and Nina Mosley and youth netter Benjie Decena as student athlete awardees for May.

Juan and Mosley represented the CNMI in the 2004 Oceania Swimming Championships held from May 15 to 20 in Suva, Fiji.

Swimming against world-caliber swimmers from Australia and New Zealand, Juan and Mosley performed well and gained invaluable experience in the meet, according to long-time swim coach Bill Sakovich.

Mosley, for instance, broke her own record in the 100m freestyle and made it to four semifinals. She was also selected to the island team that challenged Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Tahiti in the relays held during the final day of competition.

Juan, for his part, reached the semifinals of the 200m backstroke, where he finished eighth best, in his first-ever regional swim meet.

Mosley and Camacho also competed in the five-kilometer open water swim off the Pacific Harbour Hotel. Mosley finished fourth best among the women, while Camacho emerged from the surf fifth among the men.

Decena, meanwhile, won the boys 10-and-under championship of the DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships. The Boy Wonder from Tinian beat Joe Motto Jr., 6-2, in the finals held last May 30 at the Pacific Islands Club tennis courts.

He is currently undefeated in the age group this year having also won titles in the Coconut Classic last February and the UMDA-CNMI Junior Tournament Championships in April.

Decena will play in the CNMI National Junior team that will compete in the ITF-North Pacific Qualifying Event to be held on Saipan from June 14 to 18. He will be entered in the boys 14-and-under division.