Saipan International School’s Kaithlyn Chavez pushes through the last leg of the Gecko 5000 on Saturday at Banzai Cliff.
Marianas High School’s Michael Miller finishes first in the high school category of the NMA-PSS All School Cross Country Series on Saturday at Banzai Cliff.
THE Saipan International School girls team seized the spotlight once again in the NMA-PSS All School Cross Country Series SY23-24 as they led the elementary, middle school and high school categories on Saturday, which coincided with Gecko 5000, at Banzai Cliff.
In the girls division of the elementary school category, SIS topped the one-mile distance with a total of 14 points. Brilliant Star School’s LoVel Spaeth led the top three list with a time of 07:16 with SIS’ Kaylen Taflinger and Windsor Gross filling the remaining two slots with a time of 07:49 and 07:56, respectively.
In second place in the team standings is BSS with a total of 55 points while Mount Carmel School was third with 86 points.
In cross country, the team with the lowest total score tops the meet.
In the two-mile middle school category, SIS clinched the top two spots with Adalee Taflinger in first place with a time of 14:40 and Aubrey White in second, clocking in at 15:51 while Hopwood Middle School’s Aesen Hamoy claimed third place with a time of 15:58.
SIS led the team standings with 13 points followed by Hopwood with 36, and Agape Christian School with 49.
In the high school category, SIS’ Kaithlyn Chavez sped to the top with a time of 23:14 followed by fellow schoolmate Serin Chung at 27:18, and Saipan Southern High School’s Megan Elayda at 28:09.
SIS led the team standings with 11 points followed by Marianas High School with 28, and ACS with 50.
Boys division
In the boys division, Brilliant Star School, Agape Christian School, and Marianas High School led in their respective categories.
BSS ruled the elementary school category even though none of its runners made it to the top three. SIS’ Gabriel Walsh finished first with a time of 07:15 followed by Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School’s Orion Garde at 07:20, and SIS’ Ezra West at 07:21.
But BSS led the team standings with 38 points while Tinian and SIS followed behind with 71 points each.
In the middle school category, ACS reigned supreme. SIS’ Quido Jambor led the pack with a finish time of 12:40, but ACS’ Raffy Cai and Daniel filled the remaining spots of the top three with 12:44 and 12:49, respectively.
ACS led the team standings with 18 points followed by SIS with 49 and Chacha Oceanview Middle School with 57.
In the high school category, MHS and ACS shared first place with 19 team points each. MHS’ Michael Miller clinched first place with a time of 18:56 while ACS’ Jireh Wang came in second with a time of 20:04. In third place was MHS’ Pony Tang who clocked at 20:21.
“I am very proud as a coach and headmaster for SIS,” the school’s headmaster, Dr. Ron Snyder, said. “We are in the running for five out of six championship teams this year, but it will be a hard fight.”
“Our [middle school or] MS leaders have won every single race this year so far. This has been amazing to see since both of them are new to MS. Our MS leader is Adalee Taflinger and she is new to the school. Quido Jambor, our MS boy leader, is only in grade 6, having just moved up from elementary competition. Both of these teams are the ones to watch as very few runners are in grade 8. That means developing teams that will eventually move on to dominate high school, too. It is an exciting time to be a Gecko!” he said, referring to the SIS mascot.
