9th Micronesian Games, Yap, Monday, July 16, 2018Ryan Matienza and Genina Criss opened the 9th Micronesian Games running past the field of athletes in the 10000-meter race which began at 7:00 a.m. to jump start Guam’s participation in the Games. Both athletes won gold in their respective races as Matienza ran circles around competing athletes beating his closest rival, team mate and silver medalist Ben Middlebrooke, by two laps and the rest of the field by four laps, an equivalent of one mile. Criss led the women’s field throughout the 25-lap race but struggled midway. Her Palau rival came within striking distance with two laps to go but Criss would not let this opportunity slip away as she regained her stride and opened up her lead eventually winning by 200-meters.Team Guam Basketball took to the hard courts dominating their Palau opponents from the get go. The men’s team took a 20-point half time lead but struggled through the second half as Palau pulled to within ten points. A hard-intentional foul on Michael Sakazaki during the fourth quarter ended Palau’s chances as Guam regained its footing to pull off the victory. The women had little trouble in dispatching their Palauan counterparts as they cruised to a forty-point victory.Todd Genereaux hauled in a total of 177.5 pounds of fish during the Spearfishing event at the Yap Lagoon to bring in Guam’s third gold medal beating out Palau by 30 pounds. Teammate Michael Cassidy wasn’t as fortunate as he missed the bronze by ten pounds.Men's Beach Volleyball are currently 1-0 in pool play as the women's team was not as fortunate falling to 0-2.Freestyle Wrestling Michael Shinohara took a stab at the Greco discipline, but came up short in the Gold match yielding to Pohnpei. With the second-place performance, Shinohara hauled in Guam’s first silver medal of the games.Athletics continued adding to the medal count as the women dominated the long jump. Olympian Regine Tugade led the team to a 1-2-3 scoop taking the gold followed by Shania Bulala’s silver and Richelle Tugade’s bronze. Genie Gerardo added another gold to the count surpassing her field in the javelin throw while discus thrower Joshua Miller missed the medal stand by 9cm. Tugade ended the day for team Guam’s gold medals eclipsing the Micronesian Games record twice in the 100 meter race and being proclaimed the fastest woman in Micronesia. Bulala added a bronze to the list as she finished third in the hotly contested finale.[gallery ids="https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/20180716_145328-1660130256-1531787152932.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG-20180716-WA0041.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG-20180716-WA0013.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/20180716_070415.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG-20180716-WA0033.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/20180716_181050-1807567146-1531786989743.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG-20180716-WA0005.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG-20180716-WA0044.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/20180716_100939.jpg|,https://guamnoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/20180716_144617.jpg|" type="rectangular"]