NCR bets break sprint, swim marks

STA. CRUZ, Laguna, Philippines - – Sprinter Jomari Udtohan, tanker Imee Joyce Saavedra of the National Capital Region and archer Mary Queen Ybanez of Ilocos came away with record-breaking feats even as the Big City continued to stamp its class in various fronts in the Palarong Pambansa at the Laguna Sports Complex here yesterday.

Udtohan, a 17-year-old graduate from San Sebastian, blazed his way to the 100-meter dash gold in 10.80 seconds to emerge as Palaro’s fastest, eclipsing the 16-year-old mark of 10.9 seconds set by Cagayan Valley’s Ronald Calauanan in Bacolod City.

Over at the pool, Saavedra, 12, shattered the elementary girls 100m freestyle mark of 1:03.46 posted by the Olympian Jasmine Al-Khaldi of the NCR in Naga City eight years ago with a 1:03.03 clocking made as early as in the morning heats.

It was Saavedra’s second record mark after earlier resetting 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 to her quintuple haul to emerge as the top candidate for the Most Outstanding Athlete award.

But at the end of the day, NCR pulled away from the field with a 24-9-7 (gold-silver-bronze) haul to move closer to clinching its 10th straight overall secondary championship. 

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

She then amassed 1,296 points, capping her spectacular day with a win in single fita.

“Five down, three to go,” said Ybanez, a seven-gold medal winner in the Batang Pinoy in Bacolod City last year who plans 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, eyeing 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 band-aid on her left cheek whenever she competes.

Udtohan, for his part, is seeking 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.

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

Pacheco, who reset the shotput and javelin marks days before, settled for silver with 36.94m to improve on his sixth place effort in Dumaguete a year ago. 

NCR struck with its first gold on the tracks 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, respectively.

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

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

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 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 emerged as the sport’s first gold medal winners.

In ballgames, defending champion Central Visayas, last year’s silver medalist NCR and last year’s bronze medalist Southern Tagalog posted their third straight wins in secondary basketball.

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...