Christian Tecson of UC leads the 110-meter hurdles as his opponent falls during the 2017 Cebu City Olympics last November.
file photo
Multisports year ender
Save for a forgettable stint by the Region 7 team in the Palarong Pambansa, everything went as expected in the field of multi-sporting meets in 2017.
Cebu City still reigned supreme in the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) meet, the University of San Carlos-Basic Education (USC-BED) Warriors defended its secondary title in the Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals and the University of Cebu (UC) ruled the secondary division of the Cebu City Olympics for the third straight year.
But what made the most noise was ironically the subpar performance of the Region 7 team in the Palarong Pambansa held in San Jose, Antique last April.
The Central Visayas team finished ninth in the 2017 edition of the Palaro, the lowest so far in the annual multi-sporting meet that pits the top elementary and secondary student athletes in the country.
The team only won 20 gold medals along with 18 silvers and 29 bronze medals.
In 2016, Region 7 placed fourth in Albay with a 29-31-29 haul. It was a welcome development considering it came off a sixth-place finish in 2015 in Tagum, Davao del Norte.
But instead of improving its fourth-place finish in 2016, the team instead dropped to its lowest output to the dismay of many, including Cebu City Councilor Joy Augustus Young, who is also the chief of Cebu City Schools board.
Young then blamed the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 7 office for the worst finish of Central Visayas, saying its top officials Dr. Juliet Jeruta and Dr. Luz Jandayan mismanaged the delegation in the weeklong meet.
This prompted Young to withdraw the participation of Cebu City in the coming Cviraa meet and in Palarong Pambansa this year.
Still, there were reasons to celebrate in 2017.
The Cebu City Niños flexed its muscle in the Cviraa meet held in the City of Naga last February and ruled the meet for 25 straight years.
Cebu City also topped Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) backed Batang Pinoy Visayas Games last November in Dumaguete City.
USC-BED defended its title in the Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals in Cebu City last August in another close battle with local rival UC.
The Webmasters managed to close 2017 with a bang, topping the Cebu City Olympics’ secondary division for the third straight year in November.
Unit 5, composed of USC-BED, City Central, Zapatera Elementary School, won the elementary title for the second straight year.