NASH Santos and Addalee Taflinger finished first in their respective high school division championship races of the PSS All School Cross Country SY23-24 event at the Saipan Vegas Country Club on Saturday morning.
Santos of Saipan International School had a perfect season as he not only won all four qualifiers, but the championship round as well to secure his spot as the overall winner in the boys division with a finish time of 18:23.
Initially, Santos trailed behind the competition. But as the other runners slowed down, he took the lead and maintained his pace until the very end. He said this year’s addition to the championship course, such as “Robin’s Hill,” was a tough challenge, but it also made the victory much sweeter.
“I feel good. I want to thank Jesus Christ because He helped me — I woke up every day to train and grind, but I wouldn’t have done this without Him,” Santos said.
A few months ago, he stopped running after a lackluster performance in a PSS track & field event.
“Instead of using that [loss] to push me, I just didn’t feel good anymore. But I found my way again and I’m just glad to be here,” he added.
Last year, Santos was ecstatic to place third as it was his first time to win anything. This year, he was happy to win first place.
“I felt a lot of pressure on me after winning all the qualifiers, but in the end it helped me because now I didn’t want to lose. I’ll only get better from here,” he said.
In second place was Agape Christian School’s Jireh Wang, who clocked 18:43 while Marianas High School’s Takeru Jim took third place at 18:45.
Girls division
In the girls division, 14-year-old Addalee Taflinger seized the spotlight this year by finishing first overall at 23:29, adding another SIS runner to the list of winners.
“It [the course] was good, it was really slippery and there were small hills, but my team and I had been training on hills and different terrains,” Taflinger said.
She wished that Kaithlyn Chavez, an experienced runner, “was here because it’s was her last year who pushed me to do better.”
Taflinger recognized and thanked her coaches and her mom.
In second place was ACS’ Sablina Shen with a time of 23:53 followed by schoolmate Mary Zhu, who clocked 25:02.
The individual winners of the middle school and elementary categories will be featured in the next editions of Variety.
The high school boys and girls top three finishers pose for a photo with Northern Marianas Athletics President Ray Tebuteb and Board of Education member Greg Borja during the awards ceremony of the PSS All School Cross Country SY23-24 at the Saipan Vegas Country Club on Saturday morning.
Saipan International School’s Addalee Taflinger heads to the finish line of a PSS All School Cross Country race at the Saipan Vegas Country Club on Saturday morning.
Nash Santos smiles as he nears the finish line in a PSS All School Cross Country race at the Saipan Vegas Country Club on Saturday morning.
