KENT GETS GOLD IN 10K, AS EXPECTED

Rain didn’t stop Hugh Kent as he expectedly won the 10,000 meter event to kick off the track & field events at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games Friday morning in Palau.

The Portland State college runner and Guam record holder had high expectations coming into these Games, and he passed his first test with flying colors of gold.

Alonzo Acosta also medaled, taking the bronze in the men’s hammer throw.

The 10,000m was the first event at 6 am and Kent had an early 4:15 am wake up, getting to the track by 5 am.

“I checked the start list before hand and saw that I did have a good chance at getting on the podium,” Kent said. “I took a long break after my last season, so I wouldn’t say I was in my best shape going in.”

“As I was finishing up my warmup, the rain began to pour and my body got fairly cold. I opened up the first lap quickly to warm myself up and also gauge roughly who would be able to stick with me. The entire race was full of unpredictable conditions but I’m happy that all turned out to me getting gold.”

With the great start, Kent looks to keep this momentum going into his other events: 5000m, 1500m, 4x400m relay and half marathon.

Other Track Results

men’s 10,000m: Hugh Kent 33:03.34 (1st of 10)

women’s 10,000m: Keira Paz 44:23.95 (7th of 9)

men’s 400m hurdles: Jeofry Limtiaco 59.49 sec. (5th of 8)

women’s hammer throw: Genie Gerardo 29.42m (5th of 5)

men’s hammer: Alonzo Acosta 23.62m (3rd of 4); Giovanni Palad 19.81m (4th of 4)

men’s 4×100 relay: 49.01 seconds (10th of 10)

women’s 4×400 relay: 4:14.97 (4th of 5)

SWIMMING

On the final day of swimming, Mia Lee and Izzy Poppe finally found their way on to the podium after coming so close this week.

Lee squeezed in a bronze in the fast 50m race in a time of 29.95 seconds. The silver medalist from Tahiti beat her by an eye lash in 29.94 seconds.

Poppe also pulled off a bronze in the 200m freestyle 1:57.50, narrowly missing the silver by .02 of a second.

Amaya Bollinger fell short of another medal in the 200m freestyle finals.

BASEBALL/SOFTBALL

Our baseball and women’s softball teams were scheduled to take on FSM, but the rain has dampened those plans. Baseball has ruled out all games for the day, while the women are still trying to squeeze out games. Baseball has gone through three full days of rainouts.

Guam (2-1) has been rescheduled to take on FSM (1-1) Saturday at 10 am in baseball.

In women’s softball against FSM, Guam scored 12 runs in the first inning off 8 hits and 7 walks and never looked back, finishing off a 21-5 win called after three innings.

Colleen and Sam Quinata along with Sirena Cepeda and Zaeyah Tajalle had two hits each. Nicole Cruz pitched the first two innings, Sadie Guerrero saw her first action in the tournament with an inning.

Guam (3-1) has two more games of pool play: Saturday vs. Palau (2-1) at 5 pm and Monday vs. CNMI (1-3) at 2:30 pm. If Guam wins both games, we will be in the gold medal game on Tuesday at 2 pm.