{"id":369907,"date":"2022-06-07T06:04:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=369907"},"modified":"2022-06-07T06:04:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:04:39","slug":"team-cnmi-stoked-to-compete-in-oceania-champioships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/team-cnmi-stoked-to-compete-in-oceania-champioships\/","title":{"rendered":"Team CNMI stoked to compete in Oceania Champioships"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
The CNMI National Athletics Team, from left, Zarinae Sapong, Liamwar Rangamar, Michael Mancao, Tiana Cabrera, and Tania Tan after their first practice in Mackay, Australia yesterday.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CNMI National Athletics Team will start their campaign in the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships in Mackay, Australia today and all of them are excited for the opportunity to compete in a regional event again after the COVID-19 pandemic essentially limited them to local meets the past couple of years.<\/p>\n

Michael Mancao, who will compete in the steeplechase and 800m, said he\u2019s honored to represent the CNMI in this year\u2019s Oceania Athletics Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a very exciting and nervous day today. I was able to try out the track in Mackay and it feels good. I\u2019m still trying to get use to the weather, but other than that everything was awesome. I\u2019m so honored to be selected to be on this trip and to be competing in the high level of competition. I\u2019m expecting to lower my times for the 800m and try my best on the 3000m steeplechase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like Mancao, Tania Tan thanked Northern Marianas Athletics for choosing her to compete in the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very grateful to have this opportunity to come to Australia to compete. It\u2019s always an honor competing for our islands so I\u2019m just going to do my best! I know the competition is much higher in this meet, since it is the Oceania Champs so I\u2019m just hoping to race well and set a new personal best,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Fordham University track varsity will try her hand\u2014or more precisely her feet\u2014in the 10K and 5K events.<\/p>\n

For Tiana Cabrera, the Oceania Athletics Championships serves as only the second off-island meet for the Saipan International School student following her stint in the Asia Pacific Cross Country Championships in Japan in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so blessed and grateful to represent the Northern Mariana Islands and it\u2019s an honor to be able to compete in Australia. I am excited, but nervous and overwhelmed because I\u2019m the youngest in the group of CNMI, but I have no expectations but to get out there and do my best!\u201d<\/p>\n

Orrin Pharmin, who will suit up in the masters events, said he\u2019s using the Oceania Athletics Championships as a warm-up for the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 happening later this month.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s officially entered in eight events in Mackay\u2014the 100m, 400m, 110m hurdles, javelin, shotput, high jump, 60m, and 200m.<\/p>\n

CNMI National Athletics coach Dr. Ron Snyder said soon after the team arrived in Australia they were able to practice on a river path. He said Tan ran 5 miles, Cabrera did a 5K, while Pharmin and Mancao stretched their legs with a 3K.<\/p>\n

In their first stop in Guam, the team was also able to do some training at the John F. Kennedy High School track before proceeding to Manila, Philippines for their connecting flight to Australia.<\/p>\n

All in all, Snyder said Team CNMI is ready for the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather is great\u2026it\u2019s in the mid-70s and sunny\u2026 Morale is good\u2026 We ate dinner last night with the teams from the island federations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aside from Tan, Cabrera, Mancao, and Pharmin, the other members of Team CNMI are Lia Rangamar and Zari Sapong. Sapong is entered in the 100m and 200m, while Rangamar inherits one of her mother\u2019s favorite events the javelin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CNMI National Athletics Team will start their campaign in the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":369894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}