VICTOR Nash Santos and Jiahui Chen finished first overall in their respective divisions of the Dolphin 5K Fun Run, a student-driven event of Marianas High School on Saturday morning.
Starting from the Garapan Fishing Base and heading south on the Beach Road Pathway, Santos — one of the CNMI’s elite runners — delivered as expected, finishing first overall and in the male division with a time of 18:59.03.
In second place was Joel Phair (21:11:28) followed by Jordan Ruiz in third (22:24:20).
In the female division, Jiahui Chen finished 10 seconds ahead of the competition with a time of 26:56:12. Coming in second and third were Dianna Zheng (27:09:37) and Jiacheng Zhuang (30:58:76).
Joining the spotlight were the MHS freshmen/sophomore and junior/senior category winners.
In the freshmen/sophomore category, the male division was claimed by Yongjun Lin with a time of 23:51:70 followed by Tristan Que (24:33:59) and Kaide Benson (25:12:79) while the female division was led by Yuxi Zhang with a time of 28:31:34 followed by Richelle Sune (31:09:27) and Alice Moon and Amy Park (35:10:69).
In the junior/senior category, the male division was led by Dave Odicta with a time of 23:48:17 followed by Joaquin Cruzana (24:31:75) and Mokwon Kim (25:55:54) while Genalyn Lansangan triumphed in the female division with a time of 31:26:13 followed by Abbie Kim (32:42:17) and Rizza Relucio (32:44:56).
MHS senior Hannah Lim — the organizer of the Dolphin 5K Fun Run, vice president of the MHS Run Club, and a National Honor Society member — said the turnout “far exceeded” their expectations.
“Runners lined up for shirts and registration more than an hour before the race began, and over 300 participants sprinted to the finish line, covered in blue and yellow color powder by the end,” she said.
“Planning the event took about two months of hard work and dedication, from writing solicitation letters to organizing registration,” she added.
“The race was a big success — it started with a Zumba warm-up, continued with the race, and wrapped up with the awards ceremony and raffle. I’m very grateful to have such a great team of officers and advisors who supported us throughout the process,” Lim said.
“We didn’t anticipate having over 300 signups — a big jump from last year’s numbers,” said senior student Koey Pan, the historian of the MHS National Honor Society and a Run Club member.
“We also received a lot more sponsors this year, [whose donations] totaled over $2,000. Our hard work and months-long planning truly paid off after seeing everyone come together and enjoy the run. We are all really thankful for the immense support we have received from our school and community, and we aim to do even better next year,” Pan said.
According to Lim, the reason for the color run was to “to build on last year’s Dolphin 5.5K, which celebrated MHS’s 55th anniversary and was led by Pony Tang and Jayden Shin. We wanted this year’s run to be bold and unforgettable. A color run filled with our school colors felt like the perfect way to do that. It was an honor to carry on the tradition and we hope that even more community members will join us next year.”
The event was hosted by the MHS National Honor Society, which partnered with Run Saipan.
The organizers recognized and thanked their major sponsors: Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Tan Holdings, Pacific Islands Club Saipan, Kensington Hotel, Nam Dae Moon, Saipan World Resort, J’s Restaurant, New LC Market, Latte Built Fitness and Nutrition, Aqua Resort Club Saipan, Gold’s Gym, Cup and Bab Korean Fast Food Restaurant, All Star Sporting Good, Border Line, The Athlete’s Foot, Coffee Stop, Fit Beat, Office of Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Office of Rep. BJ Attao, Aqua Resort, I Love Saipan, Cafe 670, Java Joes, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
Lim said in addition “to all of our sponsors, we would also like to thank our MHS Run Club and NHS team and volunteers, former MHS Run Club alumni Pony Tang and Janiy Mohammed, and our Marianas High School administration for making this event possible. Lastly, we would like to extend a big thank you to Ed [Dela Cruz] and his team at Run Saipan for all their help during the planning process and on race day. It truly could not have been possible without everyone’s support.”
Participants are showered with colored powder as they take off from the starting line of the Dolphin 5K Fun Run on Saturday morning at the Garapan Fishing Base.
Victor Nash Santos makes his way toward the finish line.
Jiahui Chen nears the finish line in a cloud of colored powder.
