The Koblerville Elementary School team members pose with the first place trophy after winning the boys elementary school division championship of the PSS-McDonalds All School Athletics Championships on Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex.
KOBLERVILLE Elementary School won the boys elementary school division title of the PSS-McDonalds All School Athletics Championships after accumulating a total of 91 points during the two-day finale on Friday and Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex.
Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, with 74 points, finished second followed by Saipan International School in third with 61 points.
Fourth and fifth were Tinian Elementary School with 60 points and Kagman Elementary School with 46.
KOB came out to run and it was in the sprints and mid-distance events where they shined the brightest.
KOB runners made their first mark in the 100M event, claiming the U9 and U12 boys divisions.
The U9 event was led by KOB’s Dean Aldan who finished first with a time of 16.12 followed by GTC’s Kintinio Eleisiar in second with a time of 16.28 and KAG’s Daviray Indalecio in third with a time of 16.55.
KOB also notched first-place in the U12 boys division thanks to Ben Hosssain, who clocked 14.26. KAG’s Juan Caraballo settled for second with a time of 14.61 and GTC’s Conan Iakopo was third with a time of 14.92.
KOB’s Dean Aldan earned his second first-place finish in the U9 boys 400M distance with a time of 01:18.80 while schoolmate Logan Daniel gave the team their fourth first-place finish in the U12 boys softball throw event in which he recorded a best distance of 29.14 meters inn three attempts. In second place was schoolmate Napu Pangelinan who threw a distance of 36.79 meters.
In the elementary boys 4x100M relay, KOB came in second in heat 1 with a time of 01:00.78, and second again in heat 3 with a time of 01:02.86.
Asked about KOB’s overall performance, Coach Francis Mendiola said, “Very surprising. But they worked hard with one month of learning how to run fast. I’m just happy that they performed well.”
He added, “Our biggest haul came from the sprints, and we also did well in the throwing events. Now we need to work on our long distance for next year.”
Mendiola, who has been the athletics coach for 18 years now, would also like to thank Northern Marianas Athletics and the Public School System for hosting this event, “and have the kids running again.”
