Dolphins sweep 25-26 va’a season

It was a far-from-ordinary championship race day on a super windy Sunday (Mar. 15), instead of the usual Saturday, and it resulted in a sweep of all three categories of the 2025-2026 PSS-NMNPSF Co-Ed High School Outrigger season by the Marianas High School Dolphins off the shores of Kilili Beach.

Instead of all four high schools duking it out in their usual 500m and 1,500m races, due to the weather conditions, they had to race for about a mile, slalom-style instead. After each points were tallied on each race day and the final day, the Dolphins came out on top in the boys, girls, and mixed divisions.

Despite coming in second in the slalom with a time of 13:33.4, MHS garnered a total of 98 points for first place in the boys division. Saipan Southern High School finished first with a time of 13:26.8 but settled for second place overall with 94 points, while Mount Carmel School finished at 13:53.6 for a total of 72 points.

In the girls division, the Lady Dolphins ruled the slalom with a time of 15:36.1 and finished with 140 total points for the title. Second was SSHS at 16:21.9 with 85 points, and third went to MCS at 16:36.2 and 47 total points.

As for the mixed division, MHS finished at 15:04.4 for a total of 114 points for first place. SSHS came in second at 15:41.4 with 102 points, while KHS finished third at 16:19 with 50 points in the season.

All four schools had a huge number of seniors, with MHS’ boys roster consisting of Tyler Omelau, Iverson Francis, Enrique Naputi, Joseph (Ping) Taule, Stanley Choway, and Izeiah Deleon Guerrero. The girls were made up of Alana Hayes, Alyssa Mendiola, Shen (Vicky) Wanying, Alaysha Fejeran, Monique Mendiola, Angelina George, and Shamaelyn Kileleman.

Head coach Erryne Dasalla said of their sweep this season, “it feels so good. The kids worked so hard. They showed up every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, sometimes Saturday and Sunday. There were some complaints but they always had a good time in those one and a half, two hours.”

Assistant coach and former MHS paddler Emma Chong said that during her high school years, it’s her first time in her recollection that MHS won the boys and co-ed divisions. “I’m so happy that I can go to my old teammates and say that there’s a win in the books for them,” she said.

The season for the team, she said, was so stressful. Chong thanked Dasalla for coming on to help coach the team about a month and a half before the season started. “I had all of them by myself for a while and she’s my angel from heaven—she came in and helped me and she’s been a blessing.”

When asked what the difference was from this season compared to last, Chong said, “We had the inclusion of the JV category, so that kind of threw a wrench in our plan. It was the first time in my recollection that we had JV so we had to adjust our plans a lot. And, a change in coaching staff having Erryne come on. It was very stressful in the beginning, but when me and Erryne got into the team, it flowed perfectly.”