The Sports Leigh-Out April 18-24

Hafa Adai yan Tirow sports fans, this is Leigh Gases bringing you Marianas Press’ weekly wrap up—the Sports Leigh-Out for the week of April 18-24.

Let’s take a closer look at what our athletes have been up to in off-island competitions and on their home turf—whether it’s on the pitch, mat, courts, fields, track, pools, or the beautiful ocean.

Michelob Ultra Cup is back

The 2025 Michelob Ultra Cup Men’s Islandwide Basketball League is back with seven teams vying for the trophy at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The first day of games were on Tuesday as Marianas beat Unity Trade, 82-72, while Suns slipped past Akkari 2, 77-72.

PSS sports returns after spring break

Energy and excitement are up once again after a much-needed spring break, and student-athletes are back in class and with their teams for more interscholastic action before the end of the school year.

Elementary school track stars wrapped up their last day of qualifiers on Tuesday in the PSS-NMA All Schools Athletics, while middle school and high school students finished one on Wednesday and have one more meet to go before the championships.

On the second day of games in the PSS-NMIFA Interscholastic Boys Middle School Soccer League on Tuesday, Hopwood Middle School’s varsity and junior varsity teams notched wins, while Dandan Middle School and Tanapag Middle School bagged victories as well.

HMS blew out Saipan Community School, 13-0, HMS JV routed Mount Carmel School, 7-1, DMS beat Francisco M. Sablan Middle School, 4-0, and TMS edged Chacha Ocean View Middle School, 12-3.

In the PSS-NMISA Interscholastic Girls High School Fastpitch Softball League on Monday, Saipan Southern High School slipped past Marianas High School, 15-11. In the other game that day, MHS JV gained their first win in a close, 19-18, final against Mount Carmel School.

Tania breaks 5,000m nat’l record

Record breaker and multi-awarded track star Tania Tan set yet another CNMI record—this time in the 5,000m event with a time of 17:46 at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in California held last April 16-18.

She last set the 5,000m record at the Oregon State High Performance Track and Field Meet last year at 18:03.36.

Recently, she recorded a new indoor mile record in February with a time of 5:20.22, and a new 3,000m record at 10:31.31, also in February.

NMI beats Tuloy, 4-1, in LPK Cup

The NMI Women’s National Soccer Team wrapped up their stint in the LPK Cup Hong Kong 2025 with a 4-1 win over Philippines’ Tuloy FC last April 18.

Jannah Casarino converted a penalty kick to even the game up, 1-1 at the half. Then in the second half, Pia Ngewakl doubled their lead, followed by another for a 3-1 advantage. Casarino then shot her second goal of the game as well for their eventual 4-1 win.

The NMI team lost their first game prior to TSL FC, 2-4.

TSL FC then held a closing ceremony where NMI’s Dianne Pablo, Kaithlyn Chavez, and Jannah Casarino were named MVPs.