The Sports Leigh-Out Oct. 24-30, 2026

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.

1st, 2nd for Ramon, Mizutani in Guam's Ripper Classic

With the Marianas spared from Typhoon Champi, the annual Guahan Bodyboarders’ Ripper Classic Bodyboarding Championship 2026 finally went through on Saturday, Oct. 24, with CNMI bodyboarders showing up and showing out in the neighboring waters of Guam.

Frank Ramon took the top spot in the Master's Division with a score of 5.00, while Linus Mizutani claimed second with 4.27. Third went to Guam's Ken Concepcion also at 4.27.

In the Men’s Open, first place went to Guam’s Jonathan Leon Guerrero at 8.23, Robert Alexander was second at 5.63, while third was Ken Concepcion with 4.13. Leon Guerrero also took first place in the Drop Knee division, while second was Kei Fujioka at 6.27, and third was Carl Dela Cruz at 5.97. Meanwhile in the Amateur division, Vincent Pangelinan was first at 5.63, second went to Josh Dunn with 4.37, and third was Robert Alexander at 3.67.

The annual competition honors Guam bodyboarder Brian “Ripper” Cruz, with the event hosting boarders from neighboring places like the CNMI and Japan. This year, the event had about 37 participants over four divisions—Master’s, Men’s Open, Drop Knee, and Amateur.

Listen to interviews of the CNMI team—Ramon, Mizutani, Sidney Camacho, and Vincent Villagomez on their experiences, as well as Guam Bodyboarders Federation’s vice president Chris Santos on our website, YouTube channel, and social media pages. Report by MP’s Guam Correspondent Eliseo Silverio III.

Big medal haul for CNMI grapplers in Guam Marianas Open

Dozens of grapplers from the CNMI’s Trench Tech Mixed Martial Arts Academy and Saipan Submissions Academy brought home a haul of medals from the Guam Marianas Open Gi & No-Gi International Championship held on Saturday, Oct. 24, at the University of Guam Calvo Field House, earning podium finishes across multiple divisions.

Hundreds of athletes and spectators from all over filled the venue for the championship, which was condensed from its usual two-day format into a single day due to Typhoon Champi’s passage last weekend.

The championship marked the conclusion of the annual Guam Pro Series, which features eight events across Asia-Pacific throughout the year.

Listen to interviews of CNMI athletes Aaden Das-Duenas, Kier Agda, coaches Justis “Cuki” Alvarez, Bryan Deleon Guerrero, and Frank “The Crank” Camacho, as well as Marianas Open’s Steve Shimizu. Report by MP’s Guam Correspondent Eliseo Silverio III.

Results for Saipan Submissions:

In the kid divisions, Makai Sablan earned gold in Gi in the Kid 2 White Belt Light Featherweight division.

Hannah Kim earned silver in No-Gi and bronze in Gi in the White Belt Featherweight division.

Aaden Das-Duenas earned silver in No-Gi in the Kid 3 Grey Belt Middleweight division.

Chance Attao earned gold in No-Gi and silver in Gi in the Kid 3 Grey Belt Heavyweight division.

Urijah Sablan earned bronze in Gi and silver in No-Gi in the Kid 3 Grey Belt Lightweight division.

Kaiya Pangelinan earned bronze in No-Gi in the Kid 5 Yellow Belt Middleweight division.

For the adult divisions, Cornessa Dela Cruz earned silver in Gi in the Adult White Belt Heavyweight division and silver in the Gi Open Weight division.

Momoko Halstead earned silver in No-Gi in the Adult White Belt Middleweight division.

John Villagomez earned gold in Gi in the Master 30 White Belt Lightweight division.

Shane Deleon Guerrero earned gold in Gi and gold in No-Gi in the Master 30 White Belt Middleweight division, along with silver in the No-Gi Open Weight division.

Jacob Yamagishi earned bronze in No-Gi in the Adult Blue Belt Lightweight division.

Ciana Demapan earned silver in No-Gi in the Female Juvenile Blue Belt Middleweight division, silver in the No-Gi Open Weight division, and bronze in the Gi Open Weight division.

Bryan Deleon Guerrero earned silver in Gi in the Adult Black Belt Featherweight division and bronzeinthe Master 30 No-Gi division.

Read the full story on our website.

Villacrusis, Brennfleck take 1st triathlon qualifier

The long-awaited Pacific Games qualifier for the Triathlon Association of the CNMI finally went through on Sunday, Oct. 25 at PauPau Beach.

Even with the qualifier being pushed back a few months due to the weather, the rain made itself known as it poured sporadically throughout the event that featured a 750m swim, 20km bike, and 5k run. Despite the rough currents and slippery roads, Christian Villacrusis and Shawna Brennfleck made it work and came in first in their divisions.

The goal of the qualifier is to choose the top three triathletes in the women’s and men’s division, along with an alternate for each for a total of eight athletes. Another qualifier is set for Dec. 6, 6:30am, also at PauPau Beach.

This first qualifier, Villacrusis clocked in at 1:17:18, with James Munnis in second place at 1:30:12, and Evan Seguritan in third at 1:36:46.

For Villacrusis, he said that the weather made the course tough. “The weather made it really hard for us on the swim and also on the bike. As soon as I got out, it started pouring so hard. I was just like ‘I got to finish this race’.” He added, “This is probably the hardest it’s ever been even though we’ve been doing the same course over and over again, so it’s a nice change of pace I think, to be a little bit challenged, and it’ll help us prepare for the next selections coming up.”

In the women’s division, Brennfleck finished with a time of 1:23:03, Denise Myers was second at 1:29:48, and third went to Kimberly Spence-Jensen with 1:30:12.

Brennfleck, for her part, said, “It was tough coming out of the water. Like Christian said, it was raining on the run—I had to slow down a little bit because it actually felt pretty windy and slippery, but I think we both finished strong for the conditions.”

Recapping their time in Tahiti for the 3rd World Triathlon Development Cup in August, Villacrusis said, “Tahiti was amazing. I’m glad that I got to go over the course and I’m excited to share what we’ve learned with our future teammates. We haven’t been training as a team just yet because we haven’t selected any members, but hopefully we’ll be able to do that soon.”

The course that they competed on is the same course for the Games and Brennfleck said that it’s not such a difficult course. Villacrusis added that the swim is probably the hardest discipline there, while the bike and run course is super flat.

Once the team for Tahiti is selected, Brennfleck said they’ll have once or twice a week practices.

Read the full story on our website.

NMI women’s tennis team finishes 3rd at Billie Jean King Cup

The NMI women’s tennis team made up of Maria Isabel Heras, Hyejin Elliott, and Vivian Chung, wrapped up their Billie Jean King Cup Group III Asia/Oceania - Zone A campaign with a 2-1 win over Turkmenistan on Oct. 24 in Phan Thiet, Vietnam, securing third place in the tournament.

Elliott opened up their final game of the tourney by winning her singles match, 6-4, 7-5, while Heras lost the second singles match, 4-6, 2-6, sending the tie to a doubles matchup.

It was the first time in the tourney that Elliott and Heras partnered up, and after narrowly losing the opening set 6-7, (3-7) they made a comeback to secure the second, 6-3. The pair then won the deciding super tiebreak, 10-6, to clinch the tie. The victory gave the team a third-place finish, though host Vietnam claimed the tournament’s lone promotion spot to Group II.

NMI also picked up 2-1 wins over Brunei and Saudi Arabia during round-robin play. The team lost 0-3 to Nepal on Oct. 23 though, before closing out the tournament with the win over Turkmenistan.

In their first match of the tourney against Brunei, Elliott defeated Eunice Ying Ci Lo, 6-0, 6-3. In the second match, Heras defeated Danielle Lim 6-0, 6-1.The third match saw Chung and Heras face Lo and Megan Lee Yit May, with Chung and Heras losing, 3-6, 3-6.

Against Saudi Arabia, Elliott first defeated Maissane Ben Hassine 6-3, 6-4. In the second match, Heras overpowered Yara Alhaqbani, 6-2, 6-0, then Chung and Elliott dropped their match against Alhaqbani and Hassine, 2-6, 1-6.

Then, against a tough Nepal team, Shrijana Thapa beat Elliott, 4-6, 3-6, Swastika Bista defeated Heras, 6-3, 6-2, and Prajna Manandhar and Prakriti Shrestha took down Chung and Elliott, 6-4, 6-0.

NMI head coach and team captain Jeff Race said he was impressed by the level of play throughout the tournament by Elliott and Heras, who flew in from the states to represent the NMI.

“I was really impressed with their level of play,” Race said. “Isabel has stayed fit since winning all the gold medals in the Micronesia Games in 2024 and really shocks opponents with the power and ferocity of her forehand.” Heras graduated from college three years ago and is working in Denver, but is also doing some coaching at two different facilities.

Read the full story on our website.

Three golds, one bronze for young NMI karatekas in Guam

On a busy day of sports in Guam on Saturday, Oct. 24, NMI athletes made the short trip down south to show off their skills and represent the islands proudly in their respective sports.

For the sport of karate, two young athletes from WKO Shinkyokushinkai NMI won three gold medals, and one won bronze in the 16th Annual Carlos Palacios Memorial Karate Tournament at iLearn Academy Gymnasium in Dededo.

Isaiah Orr won two gold medals—one in the Individual Kata, boys 6-9, white and orange belt division, after beating Tiah Erwin of WKO Guam, and one in the Kumite division, boys 6-7, with a win over Zeph Aguon of WKO Guam. Orr was the only athlete to win gold in both divisions during the tourney that fielded 59 practitioners from three schools—WKO Shinkyokushinkai Guam, Shinkyokushinkai NMI, and Minor’s TKD.

Meanwhile, Tristan Josef Sablan also won gold in the Kumite division, boys 13-17, 90+kg after defeating Guam’s Callan Davidson. Samuel McPhetres took bronze in the Kumite division, boys 9-10, under 50kg.

The NMI team was coached by WKO NMI Sensei Danny Banez, while Eric Atalig, also of WKO NMI, traveled to Guam to serve on the tournament's judging staff.

“We're very proud of Isaiah, Tristan and Samuel. Traveling off-island to compete takes courage, and they represented Saipan with real fighting spirit. This is a great step as we prepare to host the Marianas Full Contact Karate Championship in Saipan next May,” Banez said.

The tournament is held in honor of Guam’s Senpai Carlos “Cal” Palacios, who taught karate to hundreds of students at the Yigo social hall. He represented Guam at the World Open in Tokyo in 1984 and died of cancer in 2009. The tournament is now in its 16th year and is Guam's longest-running karate competition.

Looking ahead, according to WKO NMI, Saipan will host the 2027 Marianas Full Contact Karate Championship on Saturday, May 8, 2027, at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. The event will be the first karate tournament held in the CNMI, with competitors expected from Guam, Japan, Mongolia and other parts of Asia.

Read the full story on our website.

Five medals, PBs in Tokyo for Saipan Swim Club swimmers

Saipan Swim Club swimmers made up of Luke Seman, Junior Seman, P.J. Seman, Hope Tenorio, Olivia Walsh, Gabriel Walsh, and Pete Phair collected five medals and put up personal best times in every event they joined during their stint in the 2026 Buccaneer Invitational at St. Mary International School in Tokyo, Japan from Oct. 24-25.

In an event with over 250 swimmers from swim clubs across Japan, Philippines, and the CNMI, Tenorio led the medal haul with three medals—a silver in the 100m butterfly, along with bronze medals in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle. With that, she placed fourth in her age group.

Olivia Walsh won the team’s two other medals—a silver medal in the 200m freestyle and bronze in the 50m freestyle. She also placed sixth overall in points for her age group with 22.50 points.

The team also recorded 22 heat victories throughout the competition. Junior led the way with five wins, followed by Tenorio and Olivia with four each. Luke had three, two, and one heat wins, Gabriel added two, and Phair contributed one.

Coach Richard Sikkel, who was with the team along with coach David Roberto, said the swimmers did well during the event. “They were focused on their races and swam their race plans. It was good to see them take charge of their time management, warm ups, and call in for their events.”

He added, “As with many events, the goal is to have the swimmers experience the feel of a race, manage their pre race jitters, and for them to swim their best race.”

Next year, Sikkel said, they plan to return in March with a larger team. “The Japan teams were all asking when our next race is, because they remember competing in Saipan. We had to tell them to be patient until the pool gets constructed at Oleai Sports [Complex].”

Girls with Game introduces new division; Little League preps for 2027 season

Despite challenges with the weather in the CNMI throughout the year, Saipan’s youth baseball and softball programs are gearing up and preparing for a new season. The Saipan Little League’s Girls with Game Fastpitch Softball League added a Junior-Senior Division for girls ages 13 to 16 and the Saipan Little League Baseball, Inc. is getting ready for its January 2027 season under newly elected officers and board members.

For the Girls with Game league which debuted early this year for girls aged 9-12, the new division is now the Junior-Senior Division for girls aged 13-16. There will be two teams playing in this league which will start either late December or January.

League commissioner and coach Moriah Sablan said the idea is to create even competition, have more game play, and allow them to have opportunities to compete off island.

The players have already started preparing for the season and during a clinic on a rainy Saturday (Oct. 24) at Navy Hill, they worked on fielding and throwing drills to strengthen their fundamentals. Then when rain came, the girls moved to the Marianas Batting Alley, where they worked on batting.

Sablan said of the upcoming league, “I’m so excited. Last year I kind of oversaw everything and kind of took the back seat to make sure everything ran correctly, so this year, I’m jumping in a coach role and I’m taking one of these teams. I’m really happy to just kind of get the older division going so that way, the girls that may be aging out to get that opportunity to play.”

With the players’ skills, she said, “I’m so shocked. We’ve never had a division for them and there’s been very minimal outlet for them to play, so to have this skill level already, and have these girls understand just kind of the basics and even a little bit more, is really great and this will make it easier to transition to gameplay.”

Meanwhile, Saipan Little League Baseball, Inc. is preparing to roll out its 2027 season under its newly elected leadership. Ray Yumul will serve as president, with Rudy Aguon as vice president, Luisa Arriola as secretary, and Kat Coldeen as treasurer. The newly elected board members are Moriah Sablan, Alisa Pangelinan, Malcolm Omar, Manny Tenorio, and Piding Tenorio.

The new leadership is working to recruit players, organize teams, and prepare the league for children 5 to 16 years old.

The anticipated divisions include Minors: ages 5-12 (contact Moriah Sablan at 670-286-1119), Majors: ages 9-12 (contact Kat Coldeen at 670-483-0017), Juniors: ages 12-14 (contact Luisa Cabrera at 670-284-7689), and Seniors: ages 13-16 (Luisa Cabrera). The organization also plans to continue girls’ fast-pitch softball and explore the possibility of introducing the 50/70 baseball division ages 11-13. The last day to submit team submissions is on Nov. 19 at 2pm.

Stay tuned for more announcements regarding player registration, divisional eligibility, and the official opening of the 2027 season.