Bombers eye four-peat as 89th NCAA track and field starts

MANILA, Philippines – Jose Rizal seeks to reign supreme as athletics champion for the fourth straight year as the three-day 89th NCAA track and field competition unfolds Thursday at the La Salle-Dasmarinas field in Cavite.

The Bombers will parade a dangerously intact lineup spearheaded by reigning MVP John Albert Mantua, who has blown away the opposition with a league-best 40.61 meters in his pet event discus throw.

No less than Jose Rizal president Dr. Vincent K. Fabella will usher in the event – the second to the last sports discipline in the NCAA calendar before it closes with the cheerdance competition on March 6 at the MOA Arena – that will come off the wraps at 8 a.m.

"This is the culminating event for the 89th Season, and we're preparing very well to host this event," said NCAA Management Committee (MANCOM) vice chairman Paul Supan, whose school will host the upcoming Season 90 resuming in June this year.

Jose Rizal is expected to draw the toughest challenge from Perpetual Help, which defied the odds last season by finishing a strong second, and traditional track powerhouse schools St. Benilde, Letran and San Sebastian.

"Every year it gets tougher and tougher and we expect it to be toughest this year," said Supan. "But the team is ready to defend our crown while all of us, school officials, students and alumni, will be there to cheer and support them all the way."

In juniors action, last year's surprise winner Emilio Aguinaldo is set to defend the high school crown it snatched away from favorites San Sebastian and La Salle-Greenhills a season back.