‘Realistic chance of podium finishes for NMI’

Team NMI chef de mission Nick Gross is confident that there is a realistic chance of getting podium finishes in the 10 sports that over 100 NMI athletes are competing in at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands from Nov. 15 to Dec. 2.

With 24 countries competing, it is a much larger scale than last year’s Pacific Mini Games held in the NMI. Therefore, Gross said he doesn’t anticipate the number of medals won during the Mini Games, but that “coming off those successes, we have a very good shot at earning some medals, bringing back some hardware, and getting some podium finishes.”

On what sports he thinks the NMI will win, he said “I’m not going to speculate on specific sports because I think that all of our sports have the opportunity to do so on any given day, but the competition will certainly be fierce. “

He added that the Pacific Games is “an entirely new beast as opposed to the Mini Games, and so this will be a great opportunity to test all of our athletes and see where we stand regionally speaking.”

Gross was appointed as chef de mission about this time last year and said with his role throughout the year, he’s been in meetings, and has had consultations with all the teams and national federations that are going. He said sports manuals have already been published and released and are now being looked over.

He said, “My work really kicks in upon arrival in the Solomon Islands as head of delegation, in helping out the NMI and making sure that our athletes are taken care of and that anything we need is hopefully addressed, so that all of our teams and athletes can focus on their competition. I’m the guy that’s helping to make sure there’s no distractions.”

The following athletes are representing 10 sports at the Games. For football, or soccer, it has the most delegates with 30, but per regulation, the final roster cannot be named yet. Team pools have not yet been determined for soccer.

Va’a has the second most athletes with 16. They include Oliver Igisaiar, Tyler Andrew, Yu Chai, Michael Peters, Terry Ruben, Willie Cabrera, Mitchell Kukkun, Guillerma Chong, Vinalynn Oronigo, Jenisha Dubrall, Ashley Pangelinan, Dayna Macaranas, Gracie Mendiola, Eva Weaver, Sakurako Halstead, Momoka Halstead, along with coach and athlete Jason Tarkong, assistant coach and athlete Richard Sikkel and team managers Justin Andrew and Joseph Weaver.

Swimming has 15 athletes including Jinie Thompson, Andrew Nunez, Frances Raho, Isaiah Aleksenko, Juhn Tenorio, Julia Jinang, Kean Pajarillaga, Kevin Guerrero Jr., Kouki Watanabe, Maria Batallones, Michael Miller, Moshe Sikkel, Nagi Tenorio, Taiyo Akimaru, Shoko Litulumar, along with coaches Richard Sikkel and Hiroyuki Kimura and team manager Yuko Kimura.

Golf consists of Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho, Joseph Sasamoto, Ben Jones Jr., Franco Santos, Zhimin Jin, along with player/coach Kaegel Taitano and team manager Marco Peter.

Athletics is made up of Tania Tan, Lyle Andrew, Maria Quitugua, Theodore Rodgers, Alexander Camacho, Casey Cruz and Pony Tang along with team officials Simon Necesito and Greg Iginoef.

Weightlifting includes Angel San Nicolas, Joey Colisao, Antonette Labausa, Riella Ann Ichiuo, Leowell Cristobal, and Raymond Santos along with team manager Greg Borja.

Tennis is made up of Moris Villanueva, June Yu, Nason Wessel, Simon Tang, and player/coach Colin Ramsey.

Beach volleyball includes Andrew Johnson and Logan Mister, with alternate players Tyce Mister and Chris Nelson.

Bodybuilding is the duo of Davy Laxa and Christina Tudela; and triathlon’s representative is Leo Wania.