The Northern Marianas Sports Association announced the 2023 Male/Female Athlete of the Year nominees, with the winners awarded last night in the 2023 NMSA Annual Awards Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.
The Male Athlete of the Year nominees are Leo Apelo Jr. of weightlifting; Colin Ramsey of tennis; Joel Buco of cycling; Douglas Schmidt of basketball; Leowell Cristobal of weightlifting; Nokki Saralu of baseball; and Joey Colisao and Raymond Santos of weightlifting.
Apelo was named Male Athlete of the Month for February. He won gold in the 81-kg class in the 2023 Guam Weightlifting Federation Youth/Junior/Senior Championships held in February. He prevailed against competitors from Guam and Palau after his snatch lift of 105 kg, clean and jerk of 140 kg, for a total of 265 kg. Apelo also competed in the Marianas Cup 2023 held at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium last March and earned first place with a 120kg snatch, 160 clean & jerk, and an overall 280kg weight lifted.
Ramsey was the Male Athlete of the Month for March. He won the men’s singles open in the Bridge Capital Tennis Classic held in March. It was Ramsey’s third straight men’s open singles titles for 2023. He also topped the NMI rankings in the men’s open for the 2022-2023 season, having won the TanHoldings Tennis Classic, SIS Student Council Tennis Tournament, and the White Coconut Classic Tennis Tournament. He represented the NMI in the North Pacific Regional Championships in Guam and Pacific Oceania Junior Championships as a coach and also participated in the 2023 Pacific Games as a player and coach.
Buco was the Male Athlete of the Month for April. He ruled the 7th Saipan Unity Lions Club Bike Race held in April. He also triumphed in the 2023 Hell of the Marianas that took place in August.
Schmidt was the Male Athlete of the Month for May. He played for Martech-Ol’Aces in the 2023 Michelob Ultra Cup Men’s Island-wide Basketball League. Douglas played a big role in their win during the championship game against Team Marianas on May 30, as he put up 22 points despite playing with a head injury. Schmidt was also a member of the Team Nesian Built, which ruled the NMIBF Marianas Arsenal 3×3 Basketball Series 2k23 for the second straight leg.
Cristobal was the Male Athlete of the Month for June. He won a pair of gold medals in the 67-kg weight class in the USA Weightlifting U25 National Championships held in Colorado in June. The Air Force Academy graduate competed in three regional/national championships since January and won a gold medal in the Miami Classic last January and another gold and the best lifter award in the Crestview Bar Slam 2023 last March. Cristobal represented the NMI in the 2023 Pacific Games and won a bronze medal in the clean & jerk.
Saralu was the Male Athlete of the Month for August. He played for the Cardinals that eventually ruled the 2023 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League after going undefeated in the regular season and in the playoffs. He posted the highest batting average in the SBL in July with his .625 from 10 hits out of 16 at-bats.
Colisao was the Male Athlete of the Month for October. In only his second international competition, Joey Colisao earned the gold medal in the +109-kg weight category at the Oceania U23 Weightlifting Championships held at the Samoa High-Performance Center in Apia, Samoa last Oct. 7. He won with a snatch lift of 130 kg (286 lbs) and a clean and jerk of 160 kg (352 lbs) for a total of 290kg (638 lbs). Colisao also competed in the 2023 Pacific Games.
Santos was the Male Athlete of the Month for November. He won the first gold medal for Team NMI in the 2023 Pacific Games. He topped the snatch category in the men’s 55-kg class in the weightlifting competition. His third lift of 96 kg gave him the gold in the snatch category and he later added a bronze (112 kg in clean & jerk) and silver (208 kg total weight lift) after completing his events. He went on to bag four medals in Honiara, as he was also awarded the silver medal in 2023 Oceania Championships, which was held simultaneously with the 2023 Pacific Games.
The Female Athlete of the Year are Tania Tan of athletics; Antonette Labausa of weightlifting; Janelle Pangilinan of badminton; Erin Frink of athletics; Pipit Ball of va’a; and Christina Tudela of bodybuilding.
Tan was named Female Athlete of the Month for February and November. She represented the CNMI at the World Athletics Cross Country Championship in Bathurst Australia in February, joining the 10K race and timing in at 44:41. In July, Tania reset her CNMI national record in the 3,000m after timing in at 10:18:81 at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational. She eclipsed her old mark of 10:57.58 set in 2022 in the Ramapo Season Opener indoor track meet in New York City. Later in the 2023 Pacific Games, Tan became the first NMI female athlete to have won two gold medals in the regional event after ruling the 5K and 10K races in Honiara. She also set a new Pacific Games record in the 5K after submitting 18:08.69.
Labausa was named Female Athlete of the Month for March. She competed in the 81-kg weight class in the Marianas Weightlifting Cup and won the gold after setting a new personal best of 100 kg in the clean & jerk. Her best snatch was 75 kg for a total weight of 175 kg. Labausa also participated in the 2023 Pacific Games, nearly making it to the medal podium, as she finished fourth in her weight class.
Pangilinan was named the Female Athlete of the Month for April. She won two gold medals in the 50th Tan Holdings Badminton Tournament in April. She teamed up with Lina Tsukagoshi to win the women’s doubles open, and then partnered with Leonard Manuel in the open mixed doubles to beat Guam’s Rui Wang and Jenny Yui in the finals. Pangilinan also participated in three high-level competitions—the Yonex Oceania Championships in New Zealand and the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open and TakeCare Saipan International that Saipan hosted and were part of a series of qualifying tournaments for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. She also represented the NMI in the Badminton World Federation Coach Mentorship Program in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Frink was named Female Athlete of the Month for June. She represented the NMI in the Oceania Cup and raced in two individual events and two relays. She set a personal best in the 200m (27.60 seconds) and 400m (1:10.45) and was part of both the 4x100m, 4x400m mixed relay teams that made CNMI records. Frink made this accomplishment despite being a newcomer in the athletics program.
Ball was the Female Athlete of the Month for October. In the Micronesian Cup in Guam in October, Ball represented Marianas Outrigger Club and won two gold medals and two silvers. She was the stroker on MOC women’s team that topped the 500 meter and 1000-meter sprints finals. In the V1 500m race, she won a silver and added another one when she helped MOC to a second-place finish in the V6 long distance event. From May to October, Ball was a force for MOC, leading the group to overall first place finishes in the V6 long distance, V6 500m sprints, V6 1,000m sprints, and V12 500m sprints.
Tudela was a co-winner (with Tania Tan) of the Female Athlete of the Month award for November. She won a gold medal for the NMI in the 2023 Pacific Games after topping the women’s model physique category. She got the judges’ nod in the preliminaries in the morning session of the competition in Honiara and in the evening finale, beating five other competitors.
Team of the Year nominees are the Marianas High School girls outrigger canoe team; Saipan International School elementary track and field girls team; Marianas Outrigger Canoe women’s team; CNMI National Swimming relay team; and the NMI U23 National Football Team.
After losing to Kagman High School in 2022 and seeing their three-season winning streak broken, MHS’ girls outrigger canoe team came back strong and took the 2023 championship. The Lady Dolphins roster include Asaka Litulumar, Cassandra Roque, Chareena Layugan, Cloe Lagmay, Eden Mendiola, Elialyn Castro, Emma Chong, Eva Weaver, Irene Wang, Kalista Klaver, Leilani Attao, Margarette Dolotina, Mary Grace Caras, Monique Mendiola, Tyana Cepeda, Vaniqa Torres, and Ylliana Poquiz. MHS was named Team of the Month for March.
The SIS Elementary Girls Team won the division title in the McDonald’s All Schools Athletics Championship after collecting 121 points and beating Oleai Elementary School (90 points) and Tinian and Garapan elementary schools (with 72 points each). Members of the SIS ES team include Leilani Ruszala, Isla Grant, Windsor Gross, Neveah Arriola, and Scarlett Burrell. SIS Girls ES Team was named Team of the Month for April.
The Marianas Outrigger Club Women’s Team ruled the Northern Marianas National Paddling Sports Federation Va’a Slalom Race V6/V1 series after collecting 120 points in the three-leg competition, way ahead of the second-place team (75 points). The MOC Women’s team members are Ayessa Tereyama, Bonny Grow, Sharleen Sablan, Annrita Benavente, Elaine Sablan, Loriann Rabe, Ashley Pangelinan, Jenn Itibus, Olivia Tenorio, Vicky Takai, Momoko, Pipit Ball, Taan Demapan, and Sakura Halstead. The MOC women’s team was named Team of the Month for June and September. In September, the NMNPSF held a similar series of races with MOC Women’s still showing its dominant form in the waters of Kilili Beach.
The CNMI National Swimming Relay Team is made up of Isaiah Aleksenko, Maria Batallones, Jakey Deleon Guerrero, and Shoko Litulumar. The team participated in the 20th FINA World Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan from July 23-29. Aleksenko, Batallones, Deleon Guerrero, and Litulumar competed in the 100×4 freestyle relay and set a new record of 4:05.62. The quartet beat the record of 4:12.95 that was set by Batallones and her teammates back in 2022 in a competition in Budapest, Hungary. The CNMI National Swimming Relay Team was named Team of the Month for July.
The NMI U23 National Football Team was named Team of the Month for August. It is made up of men’s and women’s players that swept the Marianas Cup for the first time after beating Guam in August. In the women’s division, the NMI Team dominated Guam in Game 1, 5-0, and completed the sweep with a 2-0 triumph in Game 2. In the men’s, Guam won Game 1, 1-0, but NMI stole the series win with a convincing 3-0 victory in Game 2. The NMI Men’s have never won against Guam in the Marianas Cup since its inception in 2007, while the NMI Women’s defeated Guam for the third straight time. The core of the national team that played in the Marianas Cup also represented the NMI in the 2023 Pacific Games and the Women’s EAFF E-1 Football Championships Preliminary Competition in Macau.
Reference: https://www.saipantribune.com/sports/nmsa-names-male-female-athlete-of-the-year-team-of-the-year-nominees/article_5c6a71c8-d070-11ee-b5f3-ebf104434ec9.html