USC-BED defies odds, wins Milo Visayas title

Seth Pilapil of USC sprints to the finish line in the secondary division 100-meter run (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON).

The University of San Carlos-Basic Education (USC-BED) proved no obstacle can stop it from being top contenders as it dominated the 21st Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals, which came to an end yesterday.

USC-BED’s win marked the third time they became overall champions in the meet, which has 15 sporting events held in various venues in Cebu City. The Warriors also won the titles in 2013 and 2014.

The powerhouse team, which at one point this year were demoralized by the abolition of its entire elementary division varsity and half of the secondary division due to financial problems brought about by the new academic program, finished with 170.75 points in the secondary division to dethrone erstwhile champion Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), which placed third with 100 points. Abellana National School (ANS) placed second with 116.25 points.

USC-BED’s elementary division scored 111.6 points followed by the University of the Visayas (UV) with 82 points and SHS-AdC at third with 80 points.

USC-BED lived up to its moniker as “Warriors” as most of its athletes continued training with just the support from their parents and coaches.

“Even without the honorarium from the school, we coaches give whatever we have to the athletes because it is us who encourage them to train hard even if they don’t have scholarship grants anymore,” said an emotional USC-BED athletic director Saturnino Mayormita during the awarding ceremonies yesterday at the SM Seaside City Cebu. “And we keep reminding each other that we have to show to the community that we are still contenders despite all the problems we have encountered.”

Mayormita also highlighted the role of the parents of the athletes and more importantly, the athletes themselves.

“We can’t overlook the importance of the parents. Their efforts were enormous. And the kids really fought hard even without the scholarship in the elementary division,” Mayormita said, adding that the prize they won in Milo meet in Iloilo last year was what they used for the registration in this multi-sporting meet. “We did that just so the kids can continue to compete.”

Elvy Cadiz, the mother of chess player John Andrei Cadiz, who won a gold medal in the secondary boys competition, said that it does not matter how much was spent for her son. She said what was important was that her son was able to compete in the prestigious meet.

“I just keep telling him to give his best so we can prove to the school that you’re worthy of a scholarship grant,” she said.

She also said that she knew of a lot of kids who were discouraged with the removal of the varsity team. Those kids transferred to other schools when told about the news.

USC-BED usually fields in around 200 athletes for the Milo event but that number was slashed to almost half for this edition.

“We really just kept on supporting the kids as much as we can so we are really happy that they are champions again.”

Ricky Ballesteros, Visayas regional finals organizer, was also amazed with what USC-BED achieved.

“We were worried about their athletics program after we heard about the problem but at least they proved that by helping each other, winning a championship is possible,” Ballesteros said.

The Warriors dominated boys athletics and placed second in the girls’ division to earn 50 points. Their wood pushers lorded the event for 30 points, and also got 16.25 points in the badminton, 15 in swimming, 25 in lawn tennis and 28 in volleyball secondary division. In the elementary division, USC-BED dominated athletics worth 60 points, chess (20), football (10), and girls’ volleyball (10).