Redemption, records set by Tan in 5,000m

HONIARA, Solomon Islands—Gold, check; NMI and Pacific Games record, double check; redemption, triple check.

Redemption was all that mattered to track star Tania Tan as she ran 12.5 laps around the National Sports Stadium into first place and into the hearts of many last Monday night.

Clocking in at 18:08.69, the University of Hawaii master’s student had a commanding lead over a dozen other athletes throughout the race, with silver medalist Papua New Guinea’s Scholastica Herman a good 30 seconds behind her at 18:30.93. Bronze went to New Caledonia’s Deborah Kaboer at 19:03.46.

To top it off, her time broke the old Pacific Games 5,000m standard of 18:20.09 set by Solomon Islands’ Sharon Firisua in the 2015 Pacific Games. Tan also reset the Micronesian Games record of 18:51.75 that was set in 2014 by Christina Wicker in Palau.

From not finishing her 10,000m race in the 2022 Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games and being sent to the ER, the 22-year-old said this time around—not being sent to the ER was her main motivation—and redemption came in swift and sweet.

“I was trying to hang on and not go to the ER last like year. But I was like, ‘go big, or go home. You have nothing to lose Tania. Last year, you didn’t even finish the race, so at least finish this,” she said.

Tan added that her win “feels surreal.” She said it felt even more so when they played the CNMI national anthem for everyone to hear during the ceremony. “It’s not only for me—it’s for everyone back home too and I’m so super happy,” she said with an emotional look in her eyes.

On breaking not only the CNMI record but also the Pacific Games record, she said she is “extremely honored.” She said she didn’t even know she broke the record until breakfast yesterday morning.

“I want to thank everyone back home for constantly supporting and cheering us on,” said Tan. She added that so far in the Solomons, “it’s been pretty good. Everyone here has been really nice and welcoming.”

Throughout her race, Team NMI cheered her on from the stands and exploded into an even louder cheer as she crossed the finish line first. Tan couldn’t even catch a breather as right after, local media couldn’t wait to get a word about her win.

Tan arrived in the Solomons last Nov. 25 along with beach volleyball’s Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson and is leaving with the team on Dec. 3 via charter back to Saipan.

She is set to compete in the 10,000m race later today.

With Day 1 of athletics out of the way, three other NMI athletes took to the track and broke their own personal best times.

Casey Cruz went up first for the NMI’s athletics team in the women’s 100m race and set a new best time of 13.07 seconds and came close to finishing third in her heat. She said of the race, “for my first off-island competition, it was a really humbling experience. It was something new to me because I was going up against other people that I don’t normally go up against.”

Theodore Rodgers also broke his personal best in the men’s 100m race with a time of 11.52 seconds. He said that it was an “amazing competition… it was a nice experience—I’ve never been on like that big of a stage.” He added that for his 200m race today, he wants to break Tyrone Omar’s CNMI record of a little over 22 seconds.

Andrew Camacho broke his record in the 100m race as well at 11.55 seconds.

For athletics coach Greg Iginoef, he said the team did well on their first day of athletics events. He was happy they broke their PB’s and thanks the Tuvalu coach who’s been helping the team during their training, and also thanked Dr. Ron Snyder and Elias Rangamar of Northern Marianas Athletics. For Tan’s gold medal run, he said, “I’d like to thank Tania for coming out. I know she’s in school in Hawaii and she took time out just to come and represent. Thanks Tania and thanks to her coach, Kim Boyce, and her school for letting her come out and represent her [island] nation.”

Golf’s Jin makes Top 10

Although there was no medal for golf this time around, up-and-coming golf star, 16-year-old Zhi Min Jin placed in the Top 10 of the women’s division out of more than 30 competitors at the end of Round 4 last Saturday at the Honiara Golf Course.

She capped the competition with a total of 313. Jin said of her competition, “I feel great to place eighth against the other amazing players. It wasn’t the best course condition as well so I’m just proud that I managed to score in the 70s for the four days. Competition was alright; loved playing with new people.”

In the men’s division, Franco Santos was the best finisher at No. 15 with his total score of 312; Joseph Sasamoto scored 323; Ben Jones Jr. had 328, and Joe Camacho finished at 334. The team finished eighth overall.

Marco Peter, the team’s manager said, “I was really proud of what Zhi was able to do—going from a 79 to shooting a low 77 on a really tough course. I think she has a bright future ahead of her because she has one of the most fluid swings. Everyone in the tournament said so too—they see her swing and said she’s going to be a really good player. She’s only 16 years old and she’s able to keep her composure.”

Overall, he said, the team “did okay. They did the best they could on a very big stage. The Pacific Games is just basically our Olympics.”