Santos sweeps x-country season

Just as Saipan International School’s Victor Nash Santos opened the season with a victory, he closed it with a sweep of the high school boys division as the PSS/NMA All Schools Cross-Country 2024-2025 qualifiers came full circle at the CPA Airport Field on a surprisingly sunny Saturday.

Despite the heavy rain forecasted for the past weekend, last Saturday morning was as hot as could be and the sun blanketed the open field with its hot rays instead.

In the 3-mile course, Santos was just seconds shy once again of running sub-18 minutes with a time of 18:03. He ran 18 minutes flat in the first qualifier last Sept. 7.

Marianas High School’s Michael Miller was second with 18:16, while Agape Christian School’s Jireh Wang was third place just seconds behind at 18:19.

The girls race was dominated once again by SIS’ Addalee Taflinger who came in at 23:19. Second was ACS’ Sablina Chen who clocked in at 24:17, while third was ACS’ Mary Zhu at 24:51.

Meanwhile, in team results, the Agape Christian School Torchbearers swept both the boys and girls divisions once again.

The boys had the lowest score—which, like in golf, is the best—at 19. Second was MHS at 27; third was Saipan Southern High School at 59; Mount Carmel School had 72; and SIS was at 73.

In the girls division, ACS was the only complete team out of all high schools and was ranked first with 10 points.

Santos on his sweep said, “I feel happy and grateful for all the races I have won so far. Each win has been a blessing, but the most important race that really matters is the championship. Everyone will do their best including me. The season isn’t over but so far it has been fun and tiring.

His favorite course, he said, was the one at Banzai Cliff during the third qualifier, the Gecko 5000. “I liked the uphill and the environment. It was fun and it was hosted by my school which made it one of my favorite races to run with a lot of my peers there.”

Dr. Ron Snyder, SIS headmaster and coach and meet director said of Santos’ sweep, “We decided to have Nash do a double workout to get ready for the championship and the [2024 Asia Pacific Invitational Cross Country Championships] so we only registered him in junior varsity since he needed to go out and run again right afterwards. But even though he was only supposed to run it as a training session, he couldn’t let go and pushed for a definitive victory. He continues to impress us all this season.”

This race concludes the qualifier rounds of the season. The championship is set for this Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Saipan Country Club (Saipan Vegas) at 6:30am.

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