The National Stadium in Honiara is filled with athletes, officials, guests, and spectators as the 2023 Pacific Games came to a close Saturday night in the Solomon Islands.
IN 2023, the NMI’s sports organizations and athletes continued to raise the bar with groundbreaking initiatives and record-breaking performances.
New records
NMI flag bearer Tania Tan gets ready for start of the closing ceremonies of the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, the Solomon Islands on Saturday night.
One particular athlete, 22-year-old long-distance runner Tania Tan, became the NMI’s first two-time gold medalist at the Pacific Games. She also set a new Pacific Games record in the women’s 5000m distance with a time of 18:08.69 and a new NMI record in the half marathon event where she finished fourth, clocking 1:29:11.
Medal haul
In addition to Tan’s two gold medals, the NMI also brought home three more gold medals in addition to one silver and seven bronze. Swimmer Isaiah Aleksenko, bodybuilder Christina Tudela, and weightlifter Raymond Santos were the NMI’s other gold medalists. Santos earned a silver medal as well. The bronze medalists were beach volleyball’s Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson; Aleksenko as a solo swimmer who received two more bronze medals with teammates Taiyo Akimaru, Kian Pajarillaga and Jhun Tenorio as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay team; Kouki Watanabe, Kian Pajarillaga, and Jhun Tenorio in the 4×100 medley relay event; bodybuilder Davy Laxa; and weightlifter Leowell Cristobal.
The Cardinals pose for a photo after winning the 2023 Tan Holdings Saipan Baseball League championship with an undefeated record on Wednesday evening at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.
The return of Baseball
In celebration of its 50th anniversary in the Northern Marianas, Tan Holdings Corp. donated $10,000 as title sponsor of the Saipan Baseball League whose 2023 season started in March. “Baseball is back in the CNMI,” SBL President Jay Santos said as he thanked Tan Holdings for its generous support. The 2023 SBL championship was won by the undefeated Cardinals who trounced the Junior Nationals, 11-5, in game 2 of their best-of-three series at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field. SBL also hosted a U12 tournament, which was won by the Braves, who edged the Toros, 4-3, thanks to Aiken Norita’s walk-off single in the bottom of the sixth and final inning at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Pangelinan Baseball Field.
Softball, too
For its part, the Public School System led by Director of Athletic Program Nick Gross added softball to their sports program. Kagman High School dominated the first PSS-SBL Interscholastic Softball League tournament, and defeated Rota’s Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Jr./Sr. High School, 12-8, to claim the boys high school division title.
Combat Sports
After an over five-year hiatus, combat sports finally made their return to the CNMI in December. The sold-out event featured a total of 21 boxing and kickboxing matches and 42 fighters. In the main event, Trench Tech’s Andres “Tanapag Beach Bad Boy” Camacho triumphed over Guam Muay Thai’s Jake Albert via split decision at the Garapan Central Park round house.
NMI sweeps Guam in Marianas Football Cup 2023
The NMI U23 Women’s and Men’s National Teams bested Guam in the Marianas Football Cup 2023 hosted by Saipan in August. The NMI U23 Women’s National Team defeated Guam in Games 1 (5-1) and 2 (2-0) for an aggregate score of 7-1. In the Men’s U23 Division, Guam took Game 1, 1-0, but the NMI notched an impressive 3-0 triumph in Game 2 to win the match with an aggregate score of 3-1.
New NMI swim record
At the 2023 World Aquatics World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July, 15-year-old Marian Batallones saw action in the 50m breaststroke event and clocked 35.96 seconds, which is now the NMI’s new 15 to 16 age group and national records. Battalones broke the 36.81 seconds that Nina Mosley set in June 2006. With Isaiah Aleksenko, Jakey Deleon Guerrero and Shoko Litulumar, Batallones also formed the NMI quartet that clocked 4:05.62 in the 4x100m freestyle relay and surpassed the 4:12.95 record that Batallones, Taiyu Akimaru, Jinie Thompson, and Juhn Tenorio set in the world championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2022. For their record-breaking swim in Fukuoka, Batallones and company were named by the Northern Marianas Sports Association as Team of the Month for July.
A promising weightlifter
Several NMI youth weightlifters competed in local and off-island events and performed well. They included 13-year-old Aiden Gimed, who won a gold medal at the Philippine National Weightlifting Championship in July. Gimed joined the 73kg weight class of the youth division and recorded a field-best of 70kg in snatch and 87kg in clean & jerk for a total of 157kg.