Roligat runs second best junior time, beats six runners

CNMI pride Darrel Roligat represented his home islands the best he could, putting up the second-best junior performance in the 100m dash, and third best in the history of the Commonwealth, during his recent charge at the IAAF World Championships in Finland despite running with an injured toe.

The 16-year-old Marianas High School student was phenomenal in his final race before returning to home soil, clocking in at 11.49 seconds, finishing in sixth place in his heat, while besting Sam Daraphirit of Cameroon. He also clocked in faster than five other competitors.

The Chalan Lau Lau resident who recently competed in the IAAF World Youth Championships and 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games also had the golden opportunity to race alongside Olympic medalist and eventual gold medal winner Justin Gatlin.

Despite not breaking his 11.41 junior record set in Morocco earlier in the summer, Roligat can still keep his head high after competing against the world’s finest while nursing a dislocated right pinky toe sustained during a lay over on Guam.

Roligat was taken by coach Elias Rangamar to the Guam Memorial Hospital, where his toe was realigned.

With the injury, Roligat was not able to put in any practice time, as Rangamar did not want him to aggravate the injury.

“He was in pain during the long flight to Paris but he’s been getting medical treatment,” Rangamar said in an email.

Roligat, who improved from his 11.6-second performance in Palau, is scheduled to return on Aug. 10 with Rangamar.

Before leaving Palau, the young gun expressed his satisfaction of taking advantage of what he calls “an opportunity of a lifetime.”

“I’ll get to meet the best in track from all over the world, and we usually just see them on television,” he said. “From Morocco, straight to Palau, then straight to Finland in one summer…that’s a once in a lifetime thing and I’m happy and excited to represent the CNMI.”

Rangamar also explained that his athlete is growing and maturing at a positive rate due to his summer experience, and is optimistic that Roligat will grow into a dominant sprinter in the region by Micronesian Games next year.

“By Micro Games, we’re aiming for gold,” he said in Palau. “The CNMI is not known as a powerhouse in sprints so I want Darrel to lead that charge and making the CNMI known as a powerhouse in the sprints. He definitely has the potential to do that.”

The 23-year-old Gatlin went on to win the gold, bolting away from the overmatched competition Sunday night to win in 9.88 seconds, 17-hundredths of a second ahead of runner-up Michael Frater of Jamaica. The margin of victory was the largest in the 10 world championships that have been held since the meet’s inception in 1983.

“I think it really stakes the claim that I’m the champion,” Gatlin said. “I run like a champion. I show up big when it’s time to show up big.”

Gatlin’s chief rival, world record holder Asafa Powell, watched from the stands and could only wonder what would have happened had he been in the race.

“I am quite confident in my ability,” said Powell, who withdrew with a groin injury. “I’m sure I would have run real fast. I never doubt myself, so it would have been a good race out there.”

Gatlin, who beat Powell in the Athens Olympic final and at the Prefontaine meet in June, said he would have loved to have gone against the Jamaican.

“I think the race would have been faster,” he said. “I think the world record would have been threatened if he was there, and I still think I would have beat him.”

Powell said he hoped to face Gatlin before the season ends, possibly in Zurich. (With reports from AP)