St. Mary's William Beardsley leads a pair of American School In Japan runners en route to breaking the Far East meet and northwest Pacific record in the 1,600. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – While breaking the northwest Pacific record in the 3,200-meter run in the first meet of the season in March, William Beardsley said he was not happy that he came up short in the 1,600.
So he made it a goal to break the 1,600 records for both the northwest Pacific and the DODEA-Pacific Far East meet. And he succeeded, roundly, on Day 1 of Far East Monday at Yokota’s Bonk Field.
He broke the 10-year-old Far East meet record of 4 minutes, 26.73 seconds by almost 10 seconds, clocking 4:17.38. And that was almost a full second ahead of the old northwest Pacific mark of 4:18.22.
“I was hoping to go a little bit faster,” said Beardsley, a junior and the reigning Kanto Plain and Asia-Pacific International cross country champion. “I was going for 4:16. But I did it.”
The old meet record was set in the 2013 Far East by Kubasaki’s Erik Armes, and the old northwest-Pacific region mark was run by Daniel Galvin of Yokota seven years ago; Armes and Galvin each ran in college.
“I made it my mission” to break those marks, Beardsley said. “It was lingering in my mind. I was glad I was able to break it today.”
Beardsley has already broken the 49-year-old record in the 3,200, and then topped that twice, entering Far East having run a personal best 9:12.18 at Ajinomoto. The 3,200 final is scheduled for Tuesday.
Two other athletes hoping to achieve Far East meet 100-meter records easily qualified for Tuesday’s finals. Nile C. Kinnick senior Jeremiah Hines posted an 11.20 and Kubasaki freshman Naiaja Sizemore a 12.58 in Monday’s preliminaries.
Sizemore broke the 8-year-old northwest Pacific record in April with an 11.72, .54 seconds better than the old mark of 12.26 run by Regine Tugade of Guam’s John F. Kennedy. The Far East meet record is 12.33, set in 2016 by Kubasaki’s Kaelyn Francis.
Hines’ personal best is 10.86, .09 seconds sky of the region record 10.77 set by Humphreys’ Tevijon Williams at the 2019 Far East meet.
“He’s been working on that block start and it showed today,” Red Devils coach Luke Voth said of Hines. “I always think he has a shot at the record because he’s that talented. He can get to it, definitely possible.”
Whether Sizemore can break Francis’ meet record or her own region record, Kubasaki coach Kenneth Gipson says she and the rest of her teammates have worked hard this season. “I’m very happy with what they’ve done,” Gipson said.
Kubasaki freshman Naiaja Sizemore, the northwest Pacific record-holder, qualified for the finals of the Far East 100-meter dash with a time of 12.58. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Nile C. Kinnick senior Jeremiah Hines qualified for Tuesday's finals of the 100, 200 and 400 in the Far East meet. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena's Quince Reese qualified for Tuesday's finals of both the 110 and 300 hurdles in the Far East meet. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Panthers girls continue turnaround
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – After struggling to an 0-5 start, Kadena’s girls soccer team suddenly finds itself on a three-match winning streak, including two unexpected victories on Monday’s opening day.
Mia Garza scored four goals and Marina Sawyer three as the Panthers downed Guam High and Nile C. Kinnick by identical 4-1 scores. It was the Red Devils’ first loss in 21 matches this season.
“We had nothing to lose coming in here,” Panthers coach Joey Wood said. They began their current run with a win in a “friendly” match against Seisen over the weekend.
“I told the girls, nobody is expecting us to do anything in this tournament,” Wood said. “I’m really proud of the girls. We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m hoping we can make our way into the semifinals and then the championship.”
The Panthers and their island rival Kubasaki Dragons each earned first-round byes into the single-elimination playoffs.
Kadena also made a statement on the Division I softball diamond at Camp Humphreys. Julia Petruff returned from illness to toss a one-hitter and Trinity Krause drove in three runs as the Panthers handed Guam High its first loss of the season 13-0, then later routed Kinnick 25-0.
Diamond gems weren’t limited to Panthers. Joey Schulz and Toshi Odaira combined for a no-hitter as American School In Japan blanked Kadena 4-0 in the Division I baseball tournament.
Amid gusty winds and chilly temperatures at Misawa Air Base, the Division II girls soccer tournament saw four matches end up in ties, with a handful more matches remaining in pool play Tuesday.
One tournament will likely end early, thanks to a forecast of rain on Wednesday. The Division II softball tournament will now take place over two days, ending with a double-elimination playoff on Tuesday. Yokota and Matthew C. Perry drew the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds after round-robin play was shortened.
