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07/22/2025 - The Northern Marianas Athletics hosted its first-ever Meet & Greet with national athletics team members Tania Tan, Maria Quigutua, Simon Tang, and Theodore Rodgers on Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium Conference Room.
Fresh off a strong showing at the 2025 Palau Pacific Mini Games—where the young team brought home four medals for Team Marianas, including two golds and a bronze from Tan, one gold from Lyle Andrew, and broke several national and personal records—the athletes reflected on the trials that shaped them, shared the powerful origin stories that set them on their path, looked ahead to what’s next, and offered words of wisdom and inspiration to the youth in attendance.
Tan impressively reset her record—the national record in the half-marathon at the hardest course in Micronesia with a time of 1:28:40 to wrap up athletics’ run in the Games on the last day on July 9, and prior to that, won bronze in the 5,000m, and gold in the 10,000m.
Before the meet and greet started, Oceania Athletics president and NMA general secretary Robin Sapong said, “With the success and what we’ve learned in the Mini Games, we thought we’d give this opportunity for our athletes to share the experience they went through.”
A list of questions were asked by a moderator—athletics team coach Zarinae Sapong, which, to name a few, included their routine before their event, their training and nutrition plans, any setbacks they’ve experienced, and how they felt when they achieved their accomplishments at the games.
The press then asked their questions after, with this reporter asking how it felt for them to be inspirations to the younger generation and if they ever saw themselves at the stage they are at now, as well as what’s one piece of advice they would give the younger athletes.
The 24-year-old Tan said on how she felt about getting her medals and the half marathon record, “Obviously happy. I feel like with running in general for me, it’s all about breaking my own record like PRs instead of like winning medals. Obviously in the games it’s different—you want to get medals because it helps our island get up on the medal tally.”
For Quitugua, who broke the national record in the javelin throw with a distance of 37.30m, she said she didn’t realize she broke it. After the officials stated their distances, she said, “It was so surreal. Everything just sunk in—all the early morning sacrifices just playing through my head.”
Simon Tang, who broke the record in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.47 seconds, said he also didn’t realize he broke it. “I was kind of expecting that I could break the time because in practice, we did a lot of reps with timing so I kind of felt like I had the speed for it. I just needed to not have that many mistakes in the competition,” he said.
Theodore Rodgers, who clocked a personal best in the 200m, said, “I was very surprised because I came off the track, my shoe was completely almost falling off so I didn’t think I was going to break my PB. And then I was looking at my phone and I saw the time, so I immediately recorded my reaction and I was just really happy.”
After the event, Sapong updated the public on upcoming athletics competitions, including the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from September 13–21, where Rodgers will compete in the 100m; the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Australia on August 23, with Tan set to participate; and the Oceania Cup and Masters Athletics Cup in the Kingdom of Tonga, scheduled for October 29 to November 1.
Report by Leigh Gases
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