Laguna cops 5 more golds; Big City Tankers win

STA. CRUZ, Laguna — Host Laguna made its presence felt in four more events in its title-retention bid but rivals Manila, Quezon City and Cebu Province stepped up their own drive with a three-gold medal haul in the Batang Pinoy National Championships at the San Luis RECS Village here.

Laguna claimed five more gold medals and reasserted its mastery of the cycling events with two golds on Bubukal Road.

But Laguna’s campaign was not without setback as it was humiliated by Manila in the pool where it was supposed to dominate.

The Big City bets harvested three gold medals spiked by Lambert Guiriba’s record-breaking stint in the boys’ 11-12 50-m freestyle with a time of 26.57, more than two seconds off the old record of 28.57. Twelve swimming marks were set in the day.

Guiriba’s victory was complemented by teammates Gian Berino and Bea Del Mundo. Berino won the gold in the boys’ 6 and-under 50-m freestyle after clocking 37.58 while Del Mundo had a time of 35.09 to top the girls’ 7-8 50-m freestyle.

Blanca Austria saved the day for Laguna as it won the team’s only gold in the pool in the girls’ 11-12 200-m individual medley with a time of 2:43.35.

Quezon City, Albay and Palawan also made waves in the pool with a two-gold medal outing apiece.

Quezon City drew strength from wins by Michelle Gandiongco and Whitney Dy, the Bicolanos got theirs from Henrico Jose while Josephine Pilapil delivered for Palawan.

Elmer Bryan Del Moro and Riman Nicol also shone for the host province by becoming the meet’s other two double-gold medalists with strong performances in their respective events.

Del Moro ruled the boys’ 7-9 years old mountain bike 2-km individual time trial with a time of 20.15 a

day after topping Tuesday’s 3-km mountain bike massed start race while Nicol, winner of the 10-12 7-km race the other day, won the 4-km ITT after clocking 7:55.24 to hike their gold output in cycling to six.

For their feats, Laguna sports coordinator will reward the two cyclists cash incentives worth P5,000 apiece, coach Nancy Pajarillo, the national women’s triathlon champion, said.

Del Moro and Nicol will use the money to buy new spare parts to upgrade their aging bikes.

Stephen Romaquin foiled Laguna’s bid to sweep all three cycling events as he bested local bet Jared Pajarillo in the boys’ 10-12 road racer’s 5-km ITT with a time of 7:43.25. Pajarillo ended with a silver with a time of 9:16.43.

Another host bet, Aiza Cometa, barged into the gold medal circle by winning the girls’ 100-m dash in record-setting fashion.

Cometa, a 12-year-old Grade six student of Liliw Elementary School, clocked 13.21 seconds, shattering the old record of 14.1 set by Glessy Ann Alburo of Cebu Province two years back in Bacolod City.

Another gold medal came when the Laguna softball squad scuttled a listless Cotabato City team, 27-2, in just four innings to win the event.

Not to be outdone was Tyrone Ng of Albay, who set a new record in the boys’ century sprint with a time of 11.9, enough to surpass Boholano Eric Deles’ 12.8.

Another meet record fell when Jayson Roales of Quezon Province clinched the gold in the boys’ long jump. Roales covered a distance of 5.56 to erase the 1999 mark of 5.17 by Marlon Arizal of Cavite.