Marathoners, triathletes are January’s best

Marathoners Stuart Smith and Monica Yamaguchi and youth triathletes Natasha Good and Cooper Graf were recognized for their impressive efforts and were named Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association Athletes of the Month for January.

Smith has made headlines since returning to Saipan and was the talk of month as he outworked everyone and was the first finisher of the Inaugural Saipan Marathon last Jan. 21.

Smith was strong throughout the 26.2-mile challenge and got off to a fast pace that took him from the American Memorial Park to the first turnaround marker in Marpi in less than 45 minutes.

Although he started to feel his muscles tighten up and was fatigued a bit, Smith continued to abuse his shoes as he made his way south to the Pacific Islands Club before turning around and heading back to the AMP for the finish. He wounded up finishing in a sterling 3:09:28.

Just a week later, Smith found himself challenging an Olympic-distance triathlon, which served as a qualifier for the Micronesian Games.

Smith dominated and punched in the top performances in each of the three splits as he blazed through the 960-meter swim in 13:58, rode a sterling time of 1:07:18 in the 40-kilometer bike, and burned rubber for a time of 38:39 in the 10-km run to break the two-hour mark at 1:59:55.

With his performances, Smith was nominated twice during the NMASA meeting Thursday. Northern Marianas Athletics and Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation both nominated Smith for the male award.

For her part, Yamaguchi earned praise as Female Athlete of the Month as she became the first female finisher of the Saipan Marathon.

Yamaguchi was among the 41 runners to take the inaugural challenge and conquered her task in style as she crossed the finish line in 4:10:19, which was also good for 16th overall.

What made the victory even sweeter is that it was Yamaguchi’s first try at a marathon.

Graf also made his presence felt over the final two Saturdays of the month to win the Male Student Athlete of the Month plum as he competed in the Saipan 10K Run, which coincided with the marathon and finished in a time of 1:09:33, which earned him third place in the 14-and-under division.

Graf then made a big statement in the following weekend’s triathlon as he was the youngest competitor to completed Sprint Distance competition as he reached the finish in 1:26:58.

Cooper Graf smoked the field in the 480-m swim as he registered in the second fastest time at 8:03. He then worked his muscles for a 51:57 time in the 20-km bike before capping off his day with a time of 35:08 in the 5-km run.

Good, who was a member of the gold-medal triathlon team at the South Pacific Mini Games in Palau last summer, is making a strong push to represent the CNMI in the event at the Micronesian Games as she completed her first Olympic-distance race.

The young star was the first female to conquer the course as she clocked in at 3:10:26. She was strong from beginning to end, as she was fourth out of the water with a time of 15:55 before jumping on her bike and pedaling her way to a 1:40:24 time. She then finished the race with a 1:15:07 10km run.

Honorable mentions for the month of January include Bo Wang and Allen Moses of athletics and Richard Leong of bowling.