Unso breaks hurdles mark in Palarong Pambansa

TARLAC Province , Philippines  – Patrick Unso, a second-generation star from the National Capital Region, came through with the worthiest performance at the track while another Big City bet Rafael Sta. Maria and Calabarzon’s Catherine Bondad dominated in the pool in Day 4 of the Palarong Pambansa at the Tarlac Recreational Park here yesterday.

A day after resetting the 400m hurdles mark and failing to retain his gold in high jump, Unso, whose father Renato holds the current RP record in 400m hurdles, shattered the 18-year-old mark in the 110m hurdles with a 14.6-second clocking in the qualifying heats.

The old record was 14.78 set by Mario Tabanio of Western Mindanao in Zamboanga City in 1992. He timed 14.68 in the finals

Sta. Maria, from La Salle-Greenhills, struck in the pool and led the Big City’s 4x50m medley relay team of Christian Limsui, Jeremy Lim and Alfonso Bautista to the gold in one minute and 52.39 seconds to become the event’s first quadruple medalist.

The team clocked 1:52.05 in the morning heats to erase the five-year mark set by the Bicol Region in Iloilo City.

Bondad, 12, slashed 9.53 seconds off the 5:04.08 time set by Ariana Herranz of Calabarzon in Tacloban City last year in the 400m freestyle.

The day, however, belonged to Unso, who sizzled on the hottest day in the week.

“I’m proud and overwhelmed,” said Unso, who also led his 4x100m relay team in topping the qualifying heats.

In secondary basketball, Calabarzon, represented by reigning NCAA titlist San Beda, overpowered Northern Mindanao, 77-35, while reigning titlist NCR, which fielded Letran, downed Zamboanga, 93-51, to arrange a semifinal duel tomorrow in Concepcion, Tarlac.

Jhan Mark Lapinig, who won in the 50m and 60m distances, continued to make Zamboanga Peninsula proud as he won his third gold medal with a victory in the single FITA event of archery. He also took the bronze medals in the 30m and 40m.

Central Visayas’ Mari Crizabelle Merto, who won the 60m distance the other day, likewise hiked her total to three with wins in the 30m and single FITA, leaving closest competitor Febenlyn Encabo with two gold medals.

Encabo, who earlier ruled the 50m, managed only to top the 40m by firing 310 edging Merto by mere six hits.

Unso, whose elder brother Renato Jr. was also a multiple gold medalist in the past editions of this annual event for elementary and high school athletes, now has two golds that more than made up for his failure to retain the gold in high jump Wednesday night.

Unso bowed out of the event he topped in Tacloban City last year after he tweaked his ankle while attempting to match the eight-year 1.90 record set by Paulo Martinez of Southern Tagalog in Naga City.

Instead, it was the pair of Patrick Faderagao of Mimaropa and John Arvin Gomez of Calabarzon who accomplished the feat, finishing with gold and silver medals, respectively.

“This is my favorite event, I was disqualified here last year so it means so much to me if I win here that’s why I gave it my all,” said Unso, who hopes to take up psychology in case he ends up at La Salle or biology if he winds up at Ateneo.

Unso, who is set to surpass his two-gold, one-silver effort last year as he set to spearhead the Big City’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay team to victory, was referring to last year’s heartbreaker of a performance in the 110m hurdles where he was the heavy favorite to win the event only to get disqualified for a pair of false starts.

Joan Caido, from Ilocos Norte, took the secondary boys’ 800m gold in 2:04.51 while Nickson Cuyom of Calabrzon prevailed in the 5,000m in 16:08.50.

Jan Mark Mucho of Western Visayas bounced back from disqualification in the 100m Wednesday due to a pair of false starts by winning the 400m run in 50.66. He shoots for a double in the 200m dash in a collision course with century dash winner Daniel Nova of Central Visayas.

Other winners at the track were Calabarzon’s Michelle Palmares (secondary girls 110m hurdles) and Zamboanga’s Nelma Insang (400m).

Over at the Tarlac Christian College Gymnasium in Matatalaib, Tarlac City, the Western Visayan troika of Rainer Paolo Vallejo, Jeremiah Estrada, Vandelle Magdael captured the secondary anyo team single and double weapon events to rule arnis.

Cotabato Region’s Maribel Gocotano, Rachealle Joy Aligonero and Wilma Jean Tabago won the secondary anyo team single weapon while Rhea Ann Barela, Jofel Mae Jalmandre and Jenny Tremucha the anyo team double weapon.

NCR’s Maria Cristina Onofre, Khristel Marriel Punzalan and Eunice Evangelista finished 1-2-3 in the individual all-around event of women’s artistic gymnastics and later ended up bagging the gold in the team event.

In taekwondo, Kevin Louis Sia of Northern Mindanao blew away the opposition by ruling the individual secondary boys’ pomsae and then later spearheaded to victory in the poomsae team that also included Emil Ollarit and Josafat Licayan.

Central Visayas, meanwhile, overpowered host Central Luzon, 5-0, to arrange a soccer semifinal duel with Calabarzon.