The Sports Leigh-Out July 5-11

Hafa Adai and Tirow sports fans, this is Leigh Gases with this week’s Sports Leigh-Out brought to you by Joeten Motors!

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.

Curtains close on 12th Pacific Mini Games in Palau

Team Marianas’ 161-strong delegation made a statement at the 12th Pacific Mini Games in Palau, wrapping up with a strong showing of 31 medals—10 golds, eight silvers, and 13 bronzes—finishing sixth overall out of 23 Pacific nations after the closing ceremony on July 9.

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; Tania Tan; Joey Colisao; the 4x100m medley relay swim team; weightlifter Leowell Cristobal (2); Vincent “Beng” Palacios; Kean Pajarillaga; Seth Sablan; the 4x100m freestyle relay swim team; and Maria Batallones.

One last time, in the spirit of unity, camaraderie, and Pacific pride, the remaining teams from each of the 23 nations came together at the Palau National Track and Field on Wednesday, July 9, for the closing ceremony that officially closed the chapter on the Games—marking the second time Palau has hosted.

The NMI joined 10 sports—baseball, swimming, indoor volleyball and beach volleyball, 3x3 basketball, va’a, athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, triathlon, and fastpitch softball.

Tania tan bags 2 gold, 1 bronze; Lyle Andrew wins 1 gold

To end athletics’ run at the Games, Tania Tan ran her way to her second gold medal and broke her own national record in the half marathon with a time of 1:28.40. Her first gold medal was in the 10,000m where she redeemed herself after she did not finish in the 2022 Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games. Meanwhile, her bronze medal was in the 5,000m. Lyle Andrew also secured the gold in the hammer throw.

Historic bronze for women’s 3x3 basketball team

For the last medal of the games for Team Marianas, the women’s 3x3 basketball team gave it everything they had and made history by picking up the first-ever basketball medal for the NMI—a bronze.

They came so close to the gold medal match, just missing it by one point in a tough 11-12 loss to Fiji earlier in the day. But that didn’t kill their fire. A couple of hours later, they hit the court again for the bronze medal game against Papua New Guinea and pulled off a 21-19 win in another close battle.

It was neck-and-neck the whole way, with both teams fighting hard for a spot on the podium. But in the end, it came down to clutch moments—tied at 19, all-star Alliyah Fernandez calmly knocked down back-to-back free throws to seal the bronze in their debut run.

The silver went to Tonga after they lost to gold medalist Fiji and over in the men’s side, Fiji took the gold while Solomon Islands settled for silver. Host Palau finished with a bronze medal.

Silver for beach v-ball’s Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson

In the penultimate day of the 2025 Palau Pacific Mini Games, Team Marianas picked up its 29th medal—a silver in beach volleyball—after Logan Mister and Andrew Johnson went up against rival and powerhouse Australia, falling in two straight sets, 18-21, 18-21, on a hot and humid Tuesday.

The duo, who took bronze in the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands and silver in the 2022 Northern Marianas PMG, were chasing gold and redemption after falling short to Australia in the Solomons. They came out strong, jumping to an early 6-1 lead over Aussies Finley Bennet and Jed Walker.

With leftover NMI teams and their friends and family cheering from the sidelines, Mister and Johnson fought to hold their ground. But the Aussies clawed back to take the first set, 18-21. The Marianas pair pushed hard to force a third set, but came up short again as Australia held on.

Baseball team settles for bronze

The erstwhile defending champs—the NMI baseball team—suffered a tough upset loss against host nation Palau in front of a roaring home crowd, 5-12, on July 6 at a jam-packed Nippon Baseball Stadium. They returned to the field on July 7 for one last matchup, this time against the Federated States of Micronesia, and bounced back with a convincing 15-5 win to secure the bronze.

Despite the back-to-back grind, the NMI bats weren’t silent. Nokki Saralu sparked early momentum against Palau with a first-inning homer to get the team on the board. Then in the bronze match against FSM, Nathan Camacho unleashed two towering home runs, driving in four total runs. Adding to the offensive firepower was Game 1 (against Guam) hero Jerald Cabrera, who launched a longshot of his own to add to NMI’s 13 hits.

Lifters Joey Colisao and Jason Limes bag 3 medals

Joey Colisao won silver and bronze, while Jason Limes won bronze for a total of 26 medals.

Both Colisao and Limes lifted in the super heavy weight 110kg+ category and wrapped up weightlifting’s stint in the Games with three medals.

CDM Nick Gross named Mini Games Most Outstanding Administrator

Team Marianas Chef De Mission Nick Gross was adjudged by the Pacific Games Council as the Most Outstanding Administrator of the 12th Pacific Mini Games.

Grind Basketball Guam hosts clinic

Grind Basketball Guam, with head coach Morgan Aiken, hosted another basketball clinic on Saipan. A total of 10 high school boys and 10 girls joined the clinic that was hosted on July 8 and July 9.