THE University of Cebu (UC) is en route to becoming the first school to become the champions in both the secondary and elementary divisions of the 28th Cebu City Olympics 2018 which will come to an end today.
“It is already expected because a lot of good athletes from other schools transferred to UC recently and we also noticed that UC also improved a lot in some sports that they were weak before so there’s a possibility that they will defend their title in the secondary division and maybe they can win both divisions for the first time in Cebu City Olympics,” said DepEd Cebu City Division sports and technical committee officer Francis Ramirez.
Last year, UC was one of the biggest contributors to Unit 5’s win in the elementary division.
This year, UC is competing as a Cesafi member school and no longer part of Unit 5.
And, the Webmasters might make history as the first school to win both secondary and elementary divisions, that is if they continue to harvest gold medals in today’s finale.
“It’s a good start for UC as a lone school in the elementary division of the Cebu City Olympics and I always keep praying for our success because we really prepared for the Cebu City Olympics. Let’s see what we can do in the remaining events,” said UC athletic director Jessica Jawad-Honoridez.
UC is poise to defend its secondary division title as it currently leads the medal tally with 27 gold medals, 31 silvers, and 22 bronzes.
In the elementary division, it trails at second with a medal haul of 18-11-6.
Trailing them at second place in the secondary division is its rival, University of San Carlos-Basic Education (USC-BED) with its medal tally of 15-9-10 followed by Unit 6 with 10-5-13.
In the elementary division, Unit 5 is taking the lead with a medal tally of 18-15-14 while Unit 1 is at third with 15-8-10.
Last year, UC amassed a total of 59 gold medals, 45 silvers and 29 bronze medals to become the overall champion in the secondary division, while Unit 5 reigned supreme in the elementary division with a total medal tally of 44-42-27.
The biggest chunk of UC’s gilts was from its athletics squad which finished its campaign with 13 gold medals courtesy of Crystal Villanueva who dominated the triple jump and long jump events along with Llera Pino’s 100m run, and the secondary boys’ relay team that topped the 4x400m and 4x100m relay races.
Its archers captured nine gold medals with Khalin Alyx Abella bagging seven gold medals by ruling the 30m, 40m, 50m, 60m, fita round, Olympic round, and the mixed doubles by pairing up with Jusper Abella while Justine Abella chipped in two gilts by topping the 30m and 70m distances in the secondary boy’s division.
USC, on the other hand, bagged most of its gold medals in athletics with 10.
They finished the final day of the two-day athletic competition with an additional four gold medals from Mary Joy Loberanis who topped the 1,500m run, Rafael Lugay in the boys 1,500m run, and the 4×100 and 4x400m relays secondary girls.
The winning athletes and teams of the Cebu City Olympics will represent the Cebu City Niños in February’s Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet that will be held in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, for the first time in seven years.
According to Ramirez, the only remaining sporting events that will wrap up today are football, chess, volleyball, and scrabble.