Golden double for Loberanis

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Her dream of rebuilding their 'house of gold' is slowly taking form after Mary Joy "MJ" Loberanis debuted in the secondary division with a double gold at the start of athletics competition in the 20th Milo Little Olympics Visayas regional finals at Oton's oval here.

In April 2013, MJ's house was gutted down by fire, leaving all her precious gold medals and that of her parents' trophy vault gone.

MJ vowed to her father Arvin, who is also their coach at the University of San Carlos, that she will work hard to get back what was taken away from them during that unfortunate event.

Last year, MJ snared three golds during the Visayas leg and a gold, silver and bronze in the national finals in Marikina. That was her last stint in the elementary level.

Now at Grade 7, the 13-year-old MJ had no high expectations for herself knowing that she's up against older and more seasoned opponents in the secondary level.

To her surprise though, Loberanis powered her way to a golden finish in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 11 minutes and 55.99 seconds.

After a short rest, Loberanis won her second gold of the day in come-from-behind fashion through the 800m run. She was at far ninth after the first turn, but she was not giving up, racing like a pro with so much maturity at a very young age.

Already at sixth place in the last 200 meters, Loberanis still gathered enough steam to pull away from her rivals in the final 15 meters on the way to a resounding first-place finish with a 2:41.28 clocking.

"Nahurot akong medals before so balik na pud sa sugod and I'm so happy I got two golds today. I dedicate this medals to my father who had been very patient with me in my training," said Loberanis, who is also eyeing gold in her final event today, the 1,500m run.

Loberanis' teammate Francis Arnibal stole part of the limelight after winning Cebu's first gold in the 5,000m run with a time of 20:26.02. Jay Dean Durano took away the shotput gold in 12:09m.

USC also owned the fastest man of the multi-sport spectacle, with Seth Abram topping the century dash in 11:62 seconds. Abellana National School's Mike Laurence Lopez settled for silver in 11:77.

Danao's Chris Dominic Roca also showed well, winning gold in the elementary boys 100m race in 14.40 seconds. He was trailed by Talamban's Anthony Mino, who clocked in 14.68 sec.

Mino's teammate Thea Acas bagged the gold in elementary girls 100m run in 15.20 seconds followed by Sabang's Anne Gatpolitan. Mary Grace Pritos picked up gold in elementary girls shotput.

Ateneo de Cebu's Shannelle Siasoyco grabbed the gold in secondary girls shotput after heaving the iron ball to a distance of 9.67m. Brittney Cañete won gold in the 100m run followed by Carmela Dubl in 13.47sec. Cañete also got a silver in 100m hurdles.

At La Paz's covered court, cancer-survivor Daniela de la Pisa left everyone in complete awe after sweeping all five individual golds in rhythmic sportive gymnastics.

In the secondary level, UV took the team gold in secondary, while Marianne Alegado got two golds through the all-around and hoop plus. Eunice Odag won the gold in the rope apparatus as the other two golds went to Trinity Christian School's Katrina Loretizo.

UV's dominance at the end of gymnastics event pave the way for them to take the temporary lead in both elementary and secondary level with 15 points apiece.

In swimming staged at the Central Philippines University, the Cebuanos also made waves, with Talisay's Raven Faith Alcoseba taking away three golds through the 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke and 800m freestyle.

The rest who fished out gold medals at the pool were Jermaine Lipura (200m butterfly), John Philip Kong (400m freestyle), Mariel Estreba (400m free), Christante Veloso (100m backstroke), and Joshua Tubesa (50m butterfly). (FREEMAN)