Villacrusis, Brook top 1st triathlon qualifier

There are only about four months left until the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau, and local sports federations are gearing up and fine-tuning their teams and athletes for the big event.

Last Saturday, triathletes took to the sprint triathlon course that started at PauPau Beach—the first of a series of qualifiers run by the Triathlon Association of the CNMI, with Christian Villacrusis and Heather Brook topping their respective divisions.

There was also a kids event dubbed Kids Tropical Triathlon in which participants 14 and under took on shorter versions of the course.

The sprint triathlon started off with a 750m swim portion on the shores of PauPau; transitioned over to the 20 bike portion from PauPau to Marpi Landfill and back twice; and it finished with a 5K run from PauPau to the turnaround at the H.O.P.E. Recovery Center and back.

The goal of the qualifiers is to get the fastest three male and three females for the team that will represent the CNMI at the games.

Twenty-four-year-old Villacrusis topped the event as the first overall finisher with a time of 1:16:58. Second was high school student Michael Miller who clocked in at 1:19:04, and third was tennis player Colin Ramsey at 1:24:43.

In the women’s division, Heather Brook came in first with a time of 1:23:31. Shawna Brennfleck was right on her heels for second place at 1:24:39, and Kerri Bauer finished third at 1:37:48.

There was also a team division with Team Raho taking first place with a time of 1:22:29. Second place went to Team Taflinger/Ruszala with a time of 1:32.25.

In the 14U girls division, Addalee Taflinger finished first with a time of 13:56, while Leilani Ruszala came in second with 14:08, and Amethyst Winkfield was third at 17:46. Beau Bauer was the lone participant in the 14U boys division and clocked in at 13:37.

In the girls 10U division, Lovel Spaeth was first at 8:14; second was Olivia Walsh at 10:01; and third went to Lauren Camacho at 10:24. Brayden Brennfleck finished first in the 10U boys division with 8:34; second was Declan Spaeth at 8:35; and third was Gabriel Walsh with 9:03.

And in the youngest categories, the 5U girls, Vida Beyer was first at 5:36, while Victoria Santos was second at 7:21. Third went to Beryl Winkfield at 8:25. Franco Allen-Gibson was first in the 5U boys at 4:48 and Zeke Bauer was second with 6:18.

Villacrusis, long-time swim coach for the Saipan Swim Club and triathlete/swimmer said that the course and qualifier was “really good. I think that the swim was really rough; there was a really strong current. The bike and the run was also really hard but I feel like I put in a lot of the work before this. I’ve been training really hard, and it’s just good to see the results.”

He took a break from competing and said that he missed it, so that is one of the main reasons why he’s back. His goal, he said, is to make the cut for the triathlon team for the Pacific Mini Games. “Hopefully as we move on to the different qualifiers, we could get faster and faster times if the course stays the same. I’m excited to go because a lot of my swimmers are going as well and it would be nice to go as a national team member again and not just as a coach,” he said.

Denise Myers, secretary general for TRAC said the turnout of the qualifiers was great. “We had a great turnout. We had a kids’ event too and we had a ton of kids come out and the kids bring a ton of energy to the events—and they are the future of not just triathlon, but of the CNMI,” she said.

Before the qualifier, TRAC had a membership meeting last Feb. 17 and new board members were elected.

The president is Robyn Spaeth; the vice president is Shawna Brennfleck; the secretary is Kathy Ruszala; the treasurer is Rebecca Wiggins; the secretary general is Denise Myers; and the board members are Heather Brook, Kimiko McKagan, Lily Muldoon, Travis Spaeth, Leo Wania, Florence Antonio, Manny Sitchon, and Ali Nelson.

For updates and more information on the next qualifiers, follow Triathlon CNMI on Facebook.