By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE Oceania Athletics Association’s team at the Australian Youth Olympics posted seven personal best performances in the five-day meet held in Sydney.
The Cook Island’s Jerome Tura eclipsed his personal best in the javelin throw with his 46.17m heave on Day 1. His previous record was 40.17m.
Four other personal best performances were recorded last Friday.
The Solomon Island’s Addison Alfred timed in at 11.27 seconds in the 100m breaking his PB of 11.41 seconds.
Australia’s Luke Hallett posted 13.26m in the triple jump. His previous mark was 12.84m.
The Cook Island’s Dorothy Kiria made her new personal best in the shot put with a 9.87m throw, while Tonga’s Kaneti Felela recorded a 1.90m high jump, .05 of a meter from his previous record.
On Day 2, Tura broke his 12.10m mark in the shot put with his 13.12 m throw.
Another OAA athlete who posted new personal best records last Saturday was Tonga’s Paseka Fangupo, who registered 58.64 seconds in the 400m hurdles.
Kalina Mama’o, also from Tonga, equaled her personal best in the high jump with her 1.40m.
OAA sent 23 athletes to the multi-sports event, including the NMI’s Jacque Wonenberg. The Marianas High School student was part of OAA’s 4x400m relay team.
The OAA team, which was also composed of Australia’s Jane Merry, Feke and Fiji’s Salote Niulevu and Eka Faitala, battled runners from Australia, China, Chinese Taipei and New Zealand.
The Oceania squad placed eighth with a time of four minutes, 16.62 seconds.
Australia Green topped the event with a time of 3:49.08, followed by Australia Red (3:49.92) and China (3:51.59).
The NMI had two representatives at the Australian Olympics, as Northern Marianas Athletics secretary general Robin Sapong was part of OAA’s management team along with Fiji’s Diana Lewis and Kiribati’s Tierata Taukaban.
The Australian Youth Olympics ended yesterday with 23 nations participating in the biennial meet.
It featured 19-and-under athletes and held competitions in
badminton, canoe/kayak racing, diving, figure skating, football, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, sailing, shooting, short track speed skating, swimming, table tennis and taekwondo.
The festival aims to discover young athletes who have the potential to win in the Olympics.