Knecht, Northern drub rivals

R.J. Knecht succeeded were his older brother Lucas failed, while Ashley Northern continued her sterling performance, as the two young triathletes dominated their divisions in the final Kids TRYathlon of the year held last Saturday in Marpi.

Knecht was the fastest in the 8-9-year-old age group en route to winning the boy’s division. The nine-year-old from Calvary Christian Academy tore the tape in a time of 16:32.

Knecht finished the 100-meter swim in 1:42, negotiated the 3-kilometer bike course in 9:24, and dashed a 5:26 in the 1km run.

Andrew Johnson and Clay McCullough-Stearns came in second and third in the boy’s age group. Johnson checked in with a time of 16:58 after churning the water in 2:09, pedaling for 9:24, and abusing his running shoes in 5:25. McCullough-Stearns, for his part, reached the finish line in 16:58 after a 2:04 in the swim, a 9:20 in the bike, and a 17:07 in the run.

It was a gallant effort by McCullough-Stearns, who lost a shoe in the run but soldiered on to the finish line.

Northern, meanwhile, finished second overall to Knecht in the age group and squashed the competition in the girl’s 8-9-year-old division. The nine-year-old from Saipan International School completed the race in an overall time of 16:49 after a 2:05 swim, 9:07 bike, and 5:37 run.

Best friends and swimming rivals Jellian Majors and Ilia Corella of the Saipan Swim Club came in second and third. Majors finished in a time of 17:22, while Corella was just two seconds off Majors’ pace at 17:24.

Majors accomplished the swim in 1:43, while Corella was slightly better in a time of 1:40. Corella sped past Majors in the bike, 9:57-10:28, but Majors more than made up the time in the run, 5:11-5:47.

Other participants of the 8-9-year-old age group were Tatiano Calvo, Jacob Jones, Noah Conrad, Grace Brostrom, Cody Race, and Crosby Schultz.

Calvo finished with a time of 19:34 (2:24 swim, 10:58 bike, and 6:12 run); Jones came in at 20:24 (3:22, 9:27, and 12:49); Conrad finished in 21:05 (3:18, 11:12, and 6:35); Race checked in at 22:49 (3:14, 10:34, and 9:01), while Schultz reached the finish line in 28 flat (3:19, 13:25, and 11:16).

Tomorrow, Saipan Tribune will report about the winners in the other divisions of the last leg of the 2004 Kids TRYathlon series.