2019 PACIFIC GAMES RECAP

By GSPN

Guam’s 2019 Pacific Games journey came to an end last week and more than a handful of athletes came back with medals from Samoa. Outside the podium, Guam records were broken in Track & Field and many athletes got the taste of what the Pacific Islands has to offer with plenty participating in the Pacific Games for the very first time.

Gold Medals (3)

• Men’s Basketball (5×5)
• Men’s Basketball (3×3)
• Judo 81 kg – Joshter Andrew

Silver Medals (10)

• Taekwondo – Alex Allen
• Taekwondo – Tierra Lyn Chargualaf
• Taekwondo – Amber Toves
• Swimming 50m Breaststroke – Benji Schulte
• Track & Field 5000m – Genina Criss
• Weightlifting 55kg Snatch, Clean & Jerk, Total- Jacinta Sumagaysay
• Weightlifting 49kg Snatch, Total – Dayamaya Calma

Bronze Medals (6)

• Weightlifting 45kg Clean & Jerk – Dayalani Calma
• Weightlifting 49kg Clean & Jerk – Dayamaya Calma
• Taekwondo – Leon Ho
• Taekwondo – Joseph Ho
• Athletics Half Marathon – Derek Mandell
• Athletics 3000m Steeplechase – Allison Bowman

Athletics

Thirteen athletes went up against the best in the Pacific which was highlighted by a 1500m silver medal from Genina Criss. Guam Olympian Derek Mandell recovered from what he considered a disappointing 5000m to grab bronze in the half marathon. The 4×400 relay team of Richelle Tugade, Regine Tugade, Allison Bowman and Madison Packbier broke the Guam National Record which stood for over 20 years.

Basketball

The men’s team looked like an unstoppable force all tourney long, but ran into a really tough Tahiti team for the gold medal. Guam powered through to defend the gold behind memorable performances from JP Cruz and Tai Wesley.

Guam then followed up their 5×5 medal with a 3×3 medal with a fantastic four of Ben Borja, Mike Sakazaki, AJ Carlos and Seve Susuico.

Guam’s ladies fell to Fiji in the Quarterfinals and lost a close one in the bronze medal game to Samoa.

Judo

Guam’s Joshter Andrew brought in the very first gold for the island with a masterful performance in Samoa in the 81 kg division defeating Tahiti’s Toanui Lucas.

Swimming

Guam’s Olympian Benji Schulte was split seconds between gold and bronze after a highly competitive 50m breaststroke.

Taekwondo

For the first time ever in Guam’s history, every member from Guam’s Taekwondo team managed to medal in Samoa for a total of seven medals coming from the martial artists!

Weightlifting

More than a handful of medals came from the lifters led by an outstanding triple silver from Jacinta Sumagaysay in the 55kg division. The Calma sisters were also rocking the podium with the youngest Dayamaya taking two silver medals in the 49kg and one Bronze.  Dayalani Calma took a bronze in the 45kg.

Volleyball

The men’s team finished 9th place of 13 teams and the women’s team finished 7th of 10. For beach volleyball, Guam’s duo finished 9th of 16 teams.