{"id":412402,"date":"2024-08-12T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=412402"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Casey-Cruz-to-compete-in-U20-World-Athletics-Champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Casey-Cruz-to-compete-in-U20-World-Athletics-Champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Casey Cruz to compete in U20 World Athletics Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NMI\u2019s up-and-coming sprinter Casey Cruz is set to lace up her running shoes for the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru that will be held from Aug. 26-31.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old had just come off an outstanding performance at the 10th Micronesian Games in the Marshall Islands where she reset her personal best record in the 100m.<\/p>\n

Despite competing through an injury, she pushed through and set her PB at 12.63 seconds\u2014which she is setting out to break in Peru.<\/p>\n

The Saipan Southern High School Class of 2024 graduate had a busy track season and missed her graduation ceremony because she competed in the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in Suva, Fiji, just a week before the Micro Games last June.<\/p>\n

She also competed in the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands as a senior in high school.<\/p>\n

For the upcoming competition that will be held at the National Stadium of Peru, Cruz said, \u201cI\u2019m honestly really excited to compete there. I got the opportunity to represent the NMI out there and I will. I get to go against other countries which I know will push me to do my very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming off an ankle injury she suffered last May, she said that heading into the championships, her body is \u201cbetter now that I have recovered from my injury. I am more confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her training regimen is daily except for Sundays. \u201cMonday, Wednesday, and Friday I go to the gym in the morning and then Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I train at the track,\u201d she said. \u201cI train alone, which I don\u2019t really like because I need someone there to push me but either way, I try my best to push myself. My coach is coach [Elias Rangamar] and I appreciate him for waking up every morning to coach me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to what she looks forward to, she said, \u201cWhen I get there, I\u2019m looking forward to meeting new people and going sightseeing, and especially, trying their food.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heats for the 100m are set for the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 27, with the semis set for the afternoon of the same day, and the finals set for the next day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NMI sprinter Casey Cruz sprints the final meters of the last leg of the 4x100m relay during the 10th Micronesian Games in Majuro, Marshall Islands last June.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
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The NMI\u2019s up-and-coming sprinter Casey Cruz is set to lace up her running shoes for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-412402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412402","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}