NCR, Ilocos bets share spotlight in Palaro

STA. CRUZ, Laguna–Sprinter Jomari Udtohan and swimmer Imee Joyce Saavedra of the National Capital Region and archer Mary Queen Ybanez of Ilocos came through with the worthiest performance of the day even as the Big City bets kept raking in the gold medals Wednesday in the Palarong Pambansa at the Laguna Sports Complex here.

Udtohan, a 17-year-old graduate of San Sebastian, emerged the fastest athlete of this week-long event as he blazed his way to the 100-meter dash gold in 10.80 seconds, eclipsing the 16-year-old mark of 10.9 record set by Cagayan Valley's Ronald Calauanan in Bacolod City.

Over at the pool, Saavedra, 12, destroyed the elementary girls 100m freestyle mark of 1:03.46 owned by the Olympian Jasmine Al-Khaldi of the NCR in Naga City eight years ago by timing in 1:03.03 as early as the morning heats in the only record broken in swimming after four marks went down in Day One.

It was the second record in as many golds Saavedra re-arranged after she obliterated the 200-m free mark the day before.

Sharing the spotlight was the 16-year-old Ybanez, who added the 40m, 50m and single fita golds in archery on her quintuple haul to emerge as a prime candidate for the Most Outstanding Athlete award.

At the end of the day, NCR has left everyone on its wake as it now has a 24-9-7 (gold-silver-bronze) to move closer to clinching its 10th straight overall secondary title.

A day after reigning supreme in the 30m and 40m, Ybanez took the 50m by firing 325 points and then added the 60m mint to her growing collection by shooting  personal best 313.

She then amassed 1,296 points to cap her spectacular day with at win in single fita.

"Five down, three to go," said a cheerful Ybanez, a seven-gold medal winner in the Batang Pinoy in Bacolod City last year who hopes to take up Psychology in college.

Ybanez is set to compete in the women's and mixed team events today and the Olympic round tomorrow hoping to come out with a whopping eight gold haul.

"Hopefully I could achieve my target of eight gold medals," said Ybanez, who has made it a custom of putting a colored bandaid on her left cheek whenever she competes.

Udtohan, for his part, is eyeing four more wins as he competes in the 200m, 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m relays in the last two days of the medal-rich athletics event.

"Subukan kong makalima (I'll try to win five)," said Udtohan, who hails from San Rafael, Bulacan and is bound to take his college studies at his alma mater, San Sebastian.

In centerpiece athletics, Kenth Rafanan of Calabarzon gave the host region something to be proud off  as he topped the secondary discus throw with a heave of 40.60m that spoiled Central Luzon bet Bryan Pacheco's hope of a third gold.

Pacheco, who re-arranged the shotput and javelin marks days before, managed only a silver with 36.94 to improve on his sixth place effort in Dumaguete a year ago.

NCR struck with its first gold in the track as Jaime Immanuel Mejia topped the secondary 400m hurdles in 54.70 seconds, besting Mimaropa's Raffy Gonzales (55.60m) and NCR's Nestly Tercero (55.93), who took the silver and bronze medals.

Calabarzon's Josefina Baloloy struck gold in 400m hurdles where she clocked 1:04:1, nbeating Davao's Joanna Marie Agudo (1:05:6) and Eastern Visayas' Melissa Escoton (1:06:0).

NCR and Calabrzon split the triumphs in badminton after the former's Patrick Gecosala, Alvin Morada, Cayel Pajarillo and Carlo Glenn Remo took the boys' team gold and the latter's Joella Guevarra, Eleanor Inlayo, Mary Ann Maranon and Samantha Louis Ramos the girls' team mint.

In arnis, Western Visayas' Jasper Jake Daliva, John Lloyd Salazar and Joseph Matthew Sucro denied Joemarson Rey Abogadi a third gold after the former beat the latter's Cordillera Administrative Region team of Sheen Michael Pakilan and Eric Cagawa, 66.5-60.0, in the team event single weapon.

Abogadi settled for the silver after emerging the sport's first double gold medalist with wins in anyo individual single and double weapon events the day before.

In taekwondo, Cagayan Valley's Zyka Angelika Santiago, Caraga's Moffee Ella Musico, Cordillera's Christian Mark Duntugan and Socsargen's Lorenz Allan Reggies all emerge as the sports forst golden boys and girls.

In the ballgames, secondary basketball is fast turning into a three-cornered fight among defending champion Central Visayas, last year's silver medalist NCR and last year's bronze medallist Southern Tagalog as the three coasted to their third straight victory.
Ateneo de Cebu-charged Central Visayas swept Bracket A in three games with a 124-55 bashing of Mimaropa while the Big City smashed Autonumous Region of Muslim Mindanao, 101-54.

Calabarzon, perennially represented by NCAA juniors titlist San Beda, nailed its third win in row with a 106-62 waylaying of Cagayan Valley.

In secondary girls volleyball, three-peat feat-seeking Hope Christian School ogf NCR flattened Eastern Visayas, 25-18, 25-14, to sweep Bracket A and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.

Mimaropa kept its title-retention bid alive in secondary football after it trounced Northern Mindanao, 7-2, to sweep its way to the quarters with three wins.

Palaro notes: One-armed Marco Tinamsan of Pagbilao, Quezon drew the most priase and awe of the crowd after he finished his event for the differently abled in the pool competition...Scouts have come aplenty here as San Sebastian's newly installed athletic driector Roger Gorayeb and Far Eastern U's volleyball coaches Florentino "Kit" Santos and Shaq delos Santos among them here to scout for potential talents. Elma Muros-Posadas and husband Jojo Posadas, who coaches the University of the East and Jose Rizal track and field teams, have been here as early as Sunday's opener...Former PBA superstar Kenneth Duremdes will also come here this weekend along with his assistant Marlou Aquino to scout for his Adamson basketball team where he is a coach while also serving as ambassador for his hometown Koronadal, South Cotabato, which is bidding to host next year's Palaro edition...The track and field competition has gone hi-tech as host Laguna have brought huge timing devices that allow spectators to view the results of the events in real time just like the Olympics...For the first time in a long while, the Palaro is hosting night games with international-standard lightings at the track oval as well as the tennis courts...