Swimmers continue to shine

KOROR, Palau—CNMI swimmers continued to have shining moments, netting another five medals during the finals Thursday night, while teams competing in outdoor sports had to wait a while before seeing action as Mother Nature interrupted with her showers yesterday in the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games.

With the new medals, the swimmers now account for all 19 medals the Commonwealth has raked in so far.

After posting another impressive show in the preliminaries, 17-year-old Melissa Coleman returned to the pool in the evening session and impressed CNMI supporters by winning the bronze in the women’s 800m Freestyle. The Saipan Southern High School student, who will also see action as a triathlete next week, chopped down her time in the preliminaries by completing the race in 10:23.5, following Ines Horngren and Esther Meallet of New Caledonia.

Shortly after, the men’s fantastic four—Juan Camacho, Rezne Wong, Michael Camacho, and David Palacios—combined forces again to take home another bronze medal, beating out Palau with a time of 4:09.3 in the men’s 400m Freestyle Relay. Powerhouse New Caledonia took gold while Guam grabbed silver.

Palacios was back in the pool for the men’s 200m Butterfly and again came close to earning a gold for the NMI. The 25-year-old Division of Agriculture employee came out to a stunning start and led for most parts of the race before New Caledonia’s Thomas Chacun raced ahead.

Nonetheless, Palacios earned much recognition, finishing in 2:16.8 for the silver. Chacun was timed at 2:14.09 while teammate Benoit Riviere earned bronze after clocking in at 2:27.6.

The silver streak continued for NMI as Mosley dove back into the pool, kept her composure and focus, and completed the 50m Butterfly in 30.73 seconds. As in most races, the event was topped by New Caldonia, whose Nyitrue Simon won the gold and Delphine Bui-Duyet took the bronze. Rising star Amanda Johnson and Myana Welch also competed in the event, with Johnson placing fourth in 32.22 and Welch taking sixth place in 33.1 seconds.

Just to show that they can match the boys’ performance, Welch, Minerva Cabrera, Johnson, and Mosley joined forces and cracked up another silver in the 400m Medley Relay. The foursome gave the CNMI a good finish to Day 4, capping their run in a time of 4:51.4. New Caledonia won the gold at 4:36.7 while Guam took bronze in 4:54.9.

Coleman also had a respectable fourth-place finish in the 200m Individual Medley, while the Camacho brothers placed fourth and fifth in the 100m Backstroke, with Juan clocking in at 1:07.2 and Michael sporting a time of 1:07.9.

The swimmers were back in action last night, closing out their Mini Games efforts in the pool. At 12pm today, Coleman, Mosley, Johnson, Welch, the Camacho brothers, Wong, and Nicole Calvo take part in the 5K Open Water Swim.

Originally set to begin at the Palau Pacific Resort, the swim was moved to Neco Bay.

Before the closing of swim events, swimmer Juan Camacho expressed that he has enjoyed every competition as well as his brief stay in Palau.

“It’s very challenging, but it’s good experience and also very fun,” he said. “Palau is a very welcoming island and I actually thought I wasn’t going to have a lot of fun, but it’s been great.”

Meanwhile, Coleman said the performances by the swimmers were “better than I expected. It’s good…because we able to get all these medals,” she said, adding that she is happy for all the support from the crowd, many of whom is comprised of other members of the CNMI delegation. “It really pumps me up for the next swim.”

Meanwhile, athletics’ Dexter Dillay fought off an ankle injury and managed to place fifth in the long jump Thursday night, with his farthest leap measuring at 5.34m. The 20-year-old multi-sport athlete said he was bothered by a bad ankle, which began hurting again immediately after his first jump. The ankle was taped prior to the competition, and also by medics during the competition at Dillay’s request.

Last night marked the final competition in athletics, with the CNMI competing in the 4X100m relay. The team is comprised of sprinter Darrel Roligat, Tyrone Omar, Luis Iguel, and Ben Jones. Results were not available as of press time.

Meanwhile, Melissa Halaby and Milli Saiki of beach volleyball received their first victory of the Mini Games, winning by default over Kiribati. The two battle Solomon Islands today, while Nan Inthraluk and Don Dunlop have to make up their cancelled game against New Caledonia, and still have Guam and Palau remaining in their schedule.

“We just need to cover all the bases and we should be fine,” said coach Rannel Calixterio. “The team should be able to get about two or three wins…we just got to keep our focus.”

Mother Nature’s showers Mini Games anew

No outdoor action was featured early yesterday as Mother Nature greeted Day 5 with heavy rain showers, forcing officials to postpone softball, baseball, tennis, and outrigger canoe competitions.

Coach Ed Johnson and his paddlers made their way to the venue in Meyuns only to return to the Palau Community College as rough seas resulted in cancellation of yesterday’s events.

Baseball coach Jason Gay also explained that his team would have to play a doubleheader today as a result of the rain interruption. The team battles Federated States of Micronesia at 5pm, and would remain on the field to take on New Caledonia at 8pm. Both bouts were originally scheduled to unfold earlier in the week. Their bout against Guam, originally scheduled for yesterday, was pushed to Sunday at 2pm.

“It’s affecting us because if the Games end now, we get the bronze,” Gay said. “Guam and Palau are still undefeated, so if we want to get the gold, we have to win all our games…we have to play.”

The sun finally began to brighten up the day sometime in the afternoon, and Gay and his squad managed to spend some time on the field practicing.

Also, the men’s and women’s fast pitch softball teams had their early morning games pushed back to last night, with the men’s team battling FSM at 6pm, the women taking on FSM at 9pm, and the men returning for a match against New Caledonia at 11pm.

Tennis action was also delayed, with Tim Quan and Daniel Son making their opening push in the men’s singles. Son battled close friend Dion Nett of the FSM.

“I’m feeling alright,” Son said. “I hope to learn something…and I’m still going to go out and cheer and support the other players.”

Son added that he made good use of his four days of not playing as he began to study different players.

“I want to play. I’ll take it a match at a time and just hope to win my first one,” he said.

Female netter Kana Aikawa, who went 2-1 in the team competition, was not scheduled to play yesterday. She, however, worked out a bit as Son was warming up for his match.

In other news, team CNMI received a huge blow in wrestling after veteran and medal favorite Joe Ocampo injured his rib during practice Thursday. Ocampo, however, stressed that he will still try to compete.