Tracksters rip Palaro marks

TARLAC Province , Philippines  – A National Capital Region hurdler whose father owns the current national mark, an unheralded lass from Aklan and a 15-year-old tanker from University of San Carlos in Cebu City took the spotlight in Day 3 with sterling performances in the Palarong Pambansa at the Tarlac Recreational Park in San Jose town here yesterday.

Patrick Unso, a high school graduate from Santo Tomas, ruled the 400m hurdles, an event where his father Renato is the current national record holder. The younger Unso won with relative ease and in record-setting fashion as NCR stepped up its bid for a fifth straight overall championship in the annual games.

The 16-year-old Unso erased the four-year old record of 55.7 seconds set by Jorge Pinanonang of Central Visayas in Naga City by clocking 54.1 seconds to cop his first Palaro gold.

“I am hoping to finish better after a disappointing effort last year in Tacloban,” said Unso, referring to a two-gold, one-silver haul last year in a stint marred by a disqualification due to false start in his pet event, the 110m hurdles.

Daniel Noval, meanwhile, joined the record-setting spree as he matched the 18-year-old century dash mark by Cagayan Valley’s Ronald Caluanan by clocking 10.9 seconds.

Unso, who was competing in high jump at press time, is hoping to stamp his class in 110m hurdles and hope to anchor the Big City’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay squad in the final two days of track competitions sponsored by Smart.

Alyssa Marie Andrade, 12, also stole the thunder as she came up with her second record-setting feat in elementary girls’ long jump with a 5.07m leap on her way to breaking the decade-long mark of 4.99m set by Angeline Cabreros of Southern Mindanao in Bacolod City.

Andrade, who had to practice in a gravel-laden track back home in Dumagit, later snared the 100m gold in 13.39 seconds as she joined the elite triple gold-medal winners club that included the NCR’s Rafael Sra. Maria, who won the gold in elementary boys’ 100m freestyle in 59.74.

Central Visayas’ Loren Dale Echavez produced the worthiest win in the pool in the day as she smashed the 12-year mark of 1:00.55 set by the NCR’s Althea Lim in Bacolod City by clocking 1:00.28 for the lone record reset in the four-day swim meet.

“I didn’t practice a lot because I was focused on passing my final exams,” said a surprised Echavez.

Andrade’s feat came a day after she reset the five-year triple jump record of 10:42m owned by Irin Balauran in Iloilo by submitting 10.80m.

True to her promise, Gia Bucag reset the elementary girls’ javelin record of 39.63m by Elena Camiring of Western Visayas in Puerto Princesa, Palawan two years ago with 40.63m heave. Jerremay Rubias of Western Visayas (35.65m) and Kin Sosmena of Northern Mindanao (35.11) settled for silver and bronze medals, respectively.

It was Bucag’s second gold after she ruled last year’s event in Tacloban City in her Palaro debut.

“I was really determined to break it this year and I’m happy I did it,” said the 12-year-old Bucag, a daughter of jobless parents from Cebu province who lives with grandmother Alice Bermel in Bambanan, Cebu.

Catherine Bondad, the pint-sized but big-hearted lass from San Pablo, Laguna who ripped the only mark in Day 1 in the 200m freestyle, took her second gold in the 100m free in 1:04.08.

Meanwhile, Susan Papa, head of the Aquatic Sports Association of the Philippines (ASAP), filed a complaint at the DepEd’s main office in Pasig after its swimmer, Hans Ramos of the NCR, was allegedly scratched out of the eight-man finale in the elementary boys’ 50m breaststroke.

Instead of being at eighth, Papa claimed Ramos was replaced by Matthew Earl Rodriguez of Calabarzon and even dropped to No. 10 and out even as an alternate.

“To break the tie, they get the average and then used a median to break it. How can that be possible in a competition like this?” Papa asked The STAR.

Tournament director Richard Luna, for his part, said they based their decision on FINA or the International Aquatics Association rules and added it’s up to the NCR coach to file the protest, not Papa.

“I will entertain only the accredited coaches,” said Luna.

Papa, however, claimed that aside from the P4,500 protest bond, the NCR coach, Remyr Angeles, didn’t want to protest it.

“We’re surprised why the coach (Angeles) didn’t want to protest it when we can really justify our protest. We’ve submitted the complaint directly to the DepEd anyway,” said Papa.

The Big City bets also dominated the secondary girls’ team event in badminton on victories by Gelita Castilo, Gabrielle Fernandez, Isabel Fernandez and Abigail Mari Garcia and the table tennis team event with a 3-2 win over Central Visayas.

Calabarzon also underscored its readiness to contend for the overall championship as it came through with victories in various fronts, including two by Maria Erika Tiao and Gina Umali in track and field.

Tiao topped the girls’ shot put with an 8.94m heave while Umali ruled the girls’ 400m hurdles in 1:05.7.

The team of Elijah Boac, Virgil del Mundo, Philip Escueta and Josef Martinez topped the secondary boys badminton team event while its table tennis girls’ team blanked Western Visayas, 3-0, for the gold.

Remond Ocag gave Cotabato region something to celebrate as he snared the gold in the 3,000m steeplechase in 10:18.24, besting John Ruel Acanto of Mimaropa (10:19.47) and Rostum Nava of Western Visayas (10:22.53).

Zamboanga Peninsula, known more for its combat sports and ballgames, dominated archery with a three-gold haul spiked by a double-gold triumph by Jhan Mark Lapinig in the boys’ 50m and 60m distances.

Febenlyn Encabo delivered the third gold for Zamboanga, a leading contender for next year’s hosting of the annual multi-sports meet, with a win in the girls’ 60m.

Marie Crizabelle Merto of Central Visayas hit the bullseye in the girls’ 50m distance to prevent a Zamboanga sweep in the event, a regular Olympic event.

In basketball, Calabarzon, represented by reigning NCAA high school champion San Beda, continued its winning ways with an 81-52 rout of Cebu to complete a three-game sweep of their four-team bracket.

The Red Cubs face the Northern Mindanao cagers in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. today at the Lapus gym.

The Cubs, who have dominated the opposition with a whopping average winning margin of 31.67 points, are looking for their first high school title since transferring from NCR to Calabarzon five years ago.

Palaro Notes: Host Gov. Vic Yap revealed they’re videotaping all the games that the province hopes to use in helping train and perhaps turn into champions their local athletes. “We hope these videos will motivate them to become champions as well,” said Yap...The host province finally tapped a swimming pool expert in Greg Palma straight from Manila to take care of the Olympic-size pool being used at the main hub.