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NMASA names top athletes for March
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Posted on Apr 12 2009
Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association named the four recipients of the Athlete of the Month awards for March during its monthly meeting Thursday night at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
Making the list were Neghar Rastguiy, Lucas Knecht, Leina Kim, and Ji Hoon Heo.
Rastguiy and Knecht claimed the student athletes plums, while Kim and Heo took the female and male athletes awards.
Rastguiy of Whispering Palms was selected female student athlete of the month for her showings in the Kids Marianas Cup.
The 9-year-old student played for the Small Stars of coach Jeff Race and was the smallest player in the tournament. Besides the Kids Marianas Cup, Rastguiy also competed in the 9th Annual PIC/Gatorade Tennis Championships, won in the girls’ 10-and-under doubles, and was runner-up in the girls’ 14-and-under doubles and singles.
Knecht of Saipan International School was the youngest member of the CNMI National Team that participated in last month’s Asian Football Championships 2010 Preliminary Competition held in Guam.
The 16-year-old forward started in all of CNMI three matches in the EAFF qualifier. Knecht was among the stalwarts of the Commonwealth’ defense in its games against Macau, Mongolia, and Guam.
Kim, at 16, was also the youngest among the female golfers who joined the Juan “Pan” T. Guerrero and Joseph N. Camacho Fundraising Golf Tournament and she went on to rule the Ladies Flight of the fundraiser.
A participant in the 2008 Callaway Junior World Championships in San Diego, Kim was among the few golfers who shot in the 70s in the fundraiser at the Kingfisher Golf Links. She tallied a 1-over par 73 to beat 10 other female par busters in the Ladies Flight and was at 10th place among 111 participants in the tournament.
Heo played in his first tennis tournament on Saipan this year and was up against a tough foe in former NCAA standout, Kirk Schuler.
Schuler, who played for Drake University, aimed for a streak after downing Jeff Race in the men’s open singles of the Coconut Classic netfest in February. But Heo foiled Schuler’s bid for back-to-back men’s open singles crown with a 6-4, 6-0 win in their title duel in the PIC tournament.
