Previous Story
Northern Marianas overtakes PNG in women’s standings
|
Posted on Jun 24 2008
Not only did Jeneque Benavente’s discus throw broke the national record previously held by Dolores Rangamar, it also allowed the CNMI to take the top spot in the women’s standings in the final day of competition in the 2008 Oceania Grand Prix.
Benavente’s first throw of 34.38m was only good for second behind Cook Islands’ Tereapii Tapoki’s monster hurl of 53.13, but Benavente’s effort allowed the CNMI to leapfrog past Papua New Guinea in the women’s standings.
Benavente’s second-place finish was good for eight points and gave the CNMI women 82 points after two days of competition at the Oleai Track and Field. PNG now is a point back with 81, followed by Guam (47), Cook Islands (36), New Zealand (27), Fiji (24), Tahiti (24), Australia (18), and Samoa (16).
Tahiti’s Perle Buard and Guam’s Genie Gierardo, meanwhile, took third and fourth in the discus with throws of 29.26m and 27.24m, respectively.
In the men’s side, the CNMI closed in on Fiji in the standings after the four points of fifth place Sylvan Rangamar in the discus gave the hosts 78 points, which is a mere point behind Fiji’s 79.
Rooarii Pito of Tahiti won the men’s discus after edging New Caledonia’s muscleman, Daniel Kilama, with a throw of 48.03m. Kilama, who won the shot put competition two days earlier, settled for second place with his 47.44m.
Kiribati’s Raobu Tarawa and Cook Islands’ Henry Taripo finished third and fourth, respectively, with throws of 34.51m and 33.37m.
With the discus results in the mix, the rest of the men’s points standings now have erstwhile second place PNG dropping to third with 76.5 points, followed by Tahiti (53), New Caledonia (38), Cook Islands (27), New Zealand (24.5), Samoa (22), Australia (18), Solomon Islands (17), Guam (17), Kiribati (15), Vanuatu (9), and Federated States of Micronesia (6).
After two days of intense competition, officials of the 2008 Oceania Grand Prix gave athletes a break when they held a mixed relay race that was topped by the team made up of Gierardo, Betty Barua of PNG, and Rabangaki Nawai and Arnold Sorina of Kiribati.
