The athletes of Saipan International School, center, Dandan Middle School, left, and Agape Christian School pose for a photo during the awards ceremony for the girls middle school division’s 4x400m event of the McDonald’s-PSS All School Track and Field (Athletics) SY23-24 at the Oleai Sports Complex on Saturday.
SAIPAN International School bagged the girls middle school division title of the McDonald’s-PSS All School Track and Field (Athletics) SY23-24 following a two-day finale at the Oleai Sports Complex on Friday and Saturday.
The oval track was where SIS collected most of their points in nearly all events to secure the overall title.
Starting in the 800m event, SIS filled the top three slots. Addalee Taflinger led the competition with a time of 2:40.72 while Faith Arriola was second at 2:49.27 and Aubrey White was third at 2:50.07. Agape Christian School’s Kate Xu and Sablina Shen came in fourth and fifth with a time of 3:01.03 and 3:02.22, respectively.
Taflinger earned another gold in the 400m distance, clocking 1:05.58 while Tinian Jr./Sr. High School’s Ysabella Lenteja came in second with a time of 1:08.49. SIS’ White was third, 1:10.63; Beatrice Gross was fourth, 1:11.57; and Arriola was fifth, 1:14.69.
TIN’s Lenteja clinched the gold medal with a time of 29.42, but SIS still earned several points as White and Gross won silver and bronze, clocking 29.84 and 30.67.
In the longer distances, Taflinger and the rest of SIS continued to shine.
In the 1500m event, Taflinger won her third gold with a time of 6:10.46 followed by Arriola at 6:17.48, and Adalee West at 6:22.90. Leilani Ruszala and Eliza Culp came in fifth and sixth with a time of 6:38.04 and 6:39.02, respectively.
Taflinger also dominated in the 3000m, finishing first with Arriola right behind. ACS’ Shen clinched third while SIS’ Adalee West, Eliza Culp and Leilani Ruszala came in next.
As a team, SIS finished first in the 4x100m event with a time of 57.00, beating Dandan Middle School with a time of 1:00.52, and Grace Christian Academy, which clocked 1:03.19.
SIS also claimed first in the 4x400m distance with a finish time of 4:51.47. DMS came in second at 5:21.25 while ACS placed third at 5:33.51.
SIS accumulated a grant total 172 points to claim the overall middle school division title.
In second place was TIN with 76; DMS was third, 42; ACS was fourth, 36; GCA was fifth, 16; Tanapag Middle School was sixth, 14; Chacha Ocean View Middle School was seventh, 10; and Hopwood Middle School was eighth, 4.
For successfully defending their title, SIS coach Angela Taflinger praised her girls’ hard work. “They all did amazing. I’m so proud of their ability to get together, not as individual athletes, but together as a team. They worked on their relays, and you can see how smooth their handoffs were. Their encouragement from one another was amazing. It just shows that we are a family, and they came to prove that today.”
She added, “These kids came out hard — all season they pushed it and challenged themselves and gave it 110% in every event.”
Coach Taflinger said this season was great, “but it was hard because we missed three weeks between our last meet and the championships. But they all showed up to our practices and continued to push themselves — what a way to end the school year.”
