ACS sweeps HS cross country qualifier

Agape Christian School Torchbearers’ boys and girls high school cross country teams burst into the scene with a sweep of both divisions in the second PSS-NMA All Schools Cross Country 2023-2024 qualifier at the American Memorial Park last Saturday morning.

The Torchbearers won first place in the boy division with 19 points; followed by Marianas High School’s 23 points; Mount Carmel School came in third with 41 points; Saipan International School had 46 points; and Saipan Southern High School was last with 74 points.

In the girls division, ACS topped it as well with 21 points; SIS was second with 28; MHS was third at 44 points; and SSHS was last with 63 points.

Michael Miller of MHS came in first in the individual boys standings with a time of 16:42.08; MHS’ Pony Tang was second at 17:15.64; and a close third by a few seconds was ACS’ Jireh Wang at 17:19.13.

Kaithlyn Chavez was the fleetest afoot in the girls individual standings with 18:52.95; second was Kagman High School’s Pia Ngewakl; and third was ACS’ Mary Zhu at 22:46.08.

ACS did not run participate in the first qualifier last Sept. 9, but wasted no time as they came ready to win in the second qualifier.

Administrator Pastor Kok H. Pang said on the return of the new school year and school sports,

“First of all, I thank God for the new school year for all schools, teachers/staff, parents and students. Just thankful that we are alive and kicking. Secondly, I am thankful and delighted to see PSS organized athletic programs started with aplomb.”

On ACS teams’ performance he said, “I am just grateful that our Agape students are ready to run even though many kids are not enjoying running. These are just qualifying results which are not final. The championship in the middle of October is the real standard of each athlete and all the schools.”

He added, “I can see that there are many good young runners coming up in different schools. We are going to have some very good results coming in next month’s final at the Saipan Country Club.”

The next qualifier is the SIS Gecko 5000 at Banzai Cliff is on Saturday, Sept. 30; the Kagman High School Invitational at ChaCha Ocean View Middle School is on Oct. 7; and the championship is set for Oct. 14 at the Saipan Country Club at Saipan Vegas.

Results of middle school and elementary school divisions will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.