Team Marianas celebrates success in Palau, sets sights on Tahiti

Through rain, sweat, grit, heart, and sheer determination, Team Marianas powered to 31 medals and sixth place out of 23 countries at the 12th Pacific Mini Games in Palau—a performance celebrated Thursday night with an appreciation ceremony honoring athletes, coaches, and supporters at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Team Marianas’ 31 medals, 41 national records reset, and countless personal bests were celebrated with incentives in the ceremony attended by the athletes, coaches, officials, Gov. David M. Apatang, Lt. Gov. Dennis Mendiola, Northern Marianas Sport Association board president Jerry Tan and board members, Education Commissioner Dr. Lawrence F. Camacho, House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Rep. Elias Rangamar, the team’s sponsors, and family and friends of the team.

The swim team, led by flag bearer Isaiah Aleksenko stormed the podium on each of their pool event days bagging the most medals for the team at 14—with six gold won by Aleksenko; young wrestler Seth Sablan earned a gold in his division; and athletics’ standouts Tania Tan ran her way to two gold medals, with another gold by Lyle Andrew.

The silver medals were won by wrestler Vincent “Beng” Palacios; swimmer Maria Batallones (2); wrestler Miles Borja; swimmer Kean Pajarillaga; 4x200m freestyle swim team; weightlifter Joey Colisao; and beach volleyball duo of Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson.

The bronze medals came from the women’s 3x3 basketball team; the baseball team; Tan; Colisao; the 4x100m medley relay swim team; weightlifter Leowell Cristobal (2); Palacios; Pajarillaga; Sablan; the 4x100m freestyle relay swim team; and Batallones.

Before the presentation of the incentives, athletes from each sport went up to share some of their experiences and give thanks for the support of the team. They were Simon Tang of athletics, Marlene Lumabi, coach of the women’s 3x3 basketball team, Francisco Lieto of baseball, Britney Gopez of fastpitch softball, Aleksenko of swimming, Colin Ramsey of triathlon, Jasmine John of volleyball, Caleb Sablan of va’a, Jason Limes of weightlifting, and Lincoln Manibusan of wrestling.

As for Tan’s remarks, he pointed to Team Marianas’ continued success in every major regional competition since 2022—including the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games, the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands, the 2024 Micronesian Games in the Marshall Islands, and the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau—as proof that the CNMI can truly compete with the best in the Pacific.

“We brought home 31 medals across the best in the Pacific region… to the sponsors, to our government leaders, to our community at large, to our parents—if this does not convince you that we are good enough to compete—I don’t know what to say. We can compete as long as we believe in them. And because we have been believing in Team Marianas—this is what they’re able to deliver,” said Tan of the team’s run in Palau.

And, while it was a celebration of the team’s successes in Palau, they are now also envisioning the 2027 Pacific Games in Tahiti. There, Tan said the goal is to bring the largest CNMI delegation ever. There are going to be 24 sports, while the CNMI has 17 national sports federations.

He said, “We have 13 sports that we believe are ready to go, so we’re looking at somewhere between 13, with about 210 athletes and 49 coaches and officials for a total of 259. So if we’re able to support additional sports, we’re going to fill up the plane. The plane that I checked has 294 seats and this is the goal.” Tan added, “While we are here to celebrate Palau, we want to envision [Tahiti], we want to start getting ready, we’re going to start training, we’re going to start fundraising, we’re going to start booking a charter flight, we’re going to send the biggest delegation to the farthest place in the Pacific—Tahiti and we have to start getting ready now.”

Team Marianas Chef De Mission Nick Gross, for his part, urged CNMI’s athletes to “stay hungry. Resist the urge to be content. Make a difference. Keep playing, start and continue coaching. Officiate. And yes, please continue supporting the movement with your voice, actions and where and when possible, funding support. Our collective will and giving back can ensure that this moment is not a footnote in our sporting success, but rather a foundation for the future of a healthy, active CNMI.”

The delegation was supported by the Office of the Governor, Saipan & Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, Joeten Daidai Foundation, ASC Trust, Triple J, Tan Holdings, Altanx, Quality Distributors, Mobil, McDonald’s, IT&E, Chinese Association on Saipan, GPPC, Marianas Press, Matson’s, LaoLao Bay Golf & Resort, Dial-Rent-To-Own, NMI Local Peace Corps Reunion Committee, Y.K. Corporation, Shell/AFE Marianas, LLC, Wushin, I Love Saipan, BC Corporation, and Artman.