Chacha, SIS top MS divisions

Chacha Ocean View Middle School Lancherus and Saipan International School Lady Geckos traversed the muddy, wet, and brutal new course to first place in the middle school division of the second PSS/NMA All Schools Cross-Country 2024-2025 qualifier-Run Saipan Invitational at the American Memorial Park last Saturday.

The Lancherus topped the 14U middle school boys division with 23 points, while SIS were right behind at 25 points. Third was Dandan Middle School Tottots with a score of 53 points; Agape Christian School Torchbearers were at 54 points; and Hopwood Middle School scored 59 points.

In the 14U middle school girls division, the Lady Geckos collected 11 points; HMS was a far second with 47 points; ACS was at 49 points; Grace Christian Academy had 56 points; and DMS scored 65 points.

For the individual results of the boys division, ACS’ Lucas Yang came in first in the 2-mile course with a time of 15:11. A distant second was COVMS’ Kyle Naputi at 16:18, and third was SIS’ Andre Guerrero at 16:26.

In the girls division, repeat first place was Saipan Community School’s Alyssa Brasuell at 17:24. Second was SIS’ Faith Arriola with a time of 17:32 and a close third place was teammate Scarlet Burnell at 17:35.

Yang, a sixth-grader, said after the race that the new course was “hard for me, but I just ran harder than anyone else, so thank you God.” He said throughout the race, he wasn’t in the lead until the last lap when he turned up the velocity and sprinted ahead of everyone into first place.

The next qualifier is the SIS Gecko 5000 at Banzai Cliff is on Sept. 28; the ISA Invitational with the loc1.ation to be determined is on Oct. 5; and the championship is set for Oct. 12 at the Saipan Country Club at Saipan Vegas.

Results of the 9U and 12U elementary school divisions will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.