Marikina City, Metro Manila— Team Visayas took off to a splashing start in the 6th Milo Little Olympics National Finals as it bagged the event’s first gold medal yesterday here at the Marikina Sports Center.
It was the first time Team Visayas clinched the first gold medal in the national multi-sporting meet and it achieved this behind the efforts of University of San Carlos’ (USC) Ivan Santos, who topped the five-kilometer run. Swimmer Reagan Joseph Garbanzoz then followed suit as he also won the first gold in swimming by topping the 200-meter freestyle event.
“I’ve practiced hard for this one because this is my last year as a high school (student) and I know that life’s tougher when I get to college,” Santos said.
The first gold medal of this annual sporting event is usually won by two-time defending champion National Capital Region (NCR) or Team Luzon.
Santos finished the 5k race with a time of 16 minutes and 40 seconds. Garbanzoz, on the other hand, clocked 2 minutes and 21.09 seconds.
Still, NCR emerged on top in swimming competition as of yesterday with 15 gold medals while Mindanao secured eight gilts and Visayas bagged six gold medals after the first 36 events.
The tournament secretariat failed to distribute the partial results of the ongoing 13 sportings events as of press time but NCR is confident it can bag its third straight national title, which will give the hosts the prestigious Perpetual Trophy.
NCR actually leads the general points system with 30 points followed by Visayas, Luzon and Mindanao with 14 points each but only sepak takraw competition was tallied.
“The situation is still under control,”said NCR delegation head Dr. Robert Milton Calo. “I can smell the perpetual trophy already and I think we are having a very smooth run despite some setbacks that happened to our basketball and football teams.” NCR recovered by dominating both the secondary and elementary division sepak takraw.
But Visayas isn’t surrendering its bid to reclaim the national crown.
“I know that team NCR’s hearts right now are pounding while we are really working hard to reclaim the overall title,” said Visayas delegation head Ricky Ballesteros. “I think Visayas has a very great chance of reclaiming the overall title today. I just hope that the teams and athletes will be consistent on their performances today.”
Aside from Santos and Garbanzoz, one of the fast-rising junior swimmers in Cebu, Psalm Deniel Aquino of Asian College of Technology (ACT), bagged four gold medals yesterday and shattered his Milo Visayas Regional Finals record in the 50-meter freestyle with a new time of 28 seconds, erasing his previous mark of 29 seconds.
Aquino also topped the 50m butterfly, 200m IM and 4x100m medley relay. The 12-year-old Talisay City-native became one of the most feared swimmers in the boys elementary division in the Visayas Regional finals in Cebu City after shattering six records in swimming.
Michael Ichiro Kong also chipped in a gold medal in the 200m butterfly. Garbanzoz and Aquino then teamed up with Jeremia Charles Lipura and Jo Lander Molina to top the 4x100m medley relay for the Visayas.
In the track and field event, the Visayan athletes in the secondary division finished day one with six gold medals, counting Santos’ win in the 5k. Another winner was Ninolito Justiniane of Don Beatriz Durano Memorial National High School, who won gold medals in the 200m and 100m sprint events.
Fellow Visayan athletes who won the gold medal in the secondary division yesterday were Elyzza Mae Salinas (100m hurdles), Elrica Anne Guro (100m sprint) and Shyannelle Siasuyco (shot put). The Visayans also grabbed six gold medals in the elementary division. The winners were Mary Joy Loberanis (1,500m run), Vince Michael Montecillo (discus throw), Karl Benedict Urbano (1,500m run), Kenji Dahili (100m run) and Russel Faunillan (shot put).
Team Visayas’ basketball teams, composed of players from the mighty USC hoop squads, also showed their might at the Marist School in Marikina Heights by posting dominating wins against Luzon in both the elementary and secondary divisions.
Visayas crushed Luzon in the elementary division,115-23, in the opening match and routed Luzon’s secondary team,80-27. The secondary squad then staged a come-from behind win against Mindanao, 81-72, in the next game.
In football, Paref Springdale’s bid to defend its title in the secondary division is going smoothly after it won over Mindanao in the opening match, 3-1. It then beat Luzon, 8-0, in its second match. Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) also opened its campaign to defend its title in the elementary division with a win against Luzon, 8-1.
INJURED ATHLETES
Despite its impressive opening day campaign, Team Visayas encountered some unexpected problems yesterday.
Aside from athletes on sick bay who were advised to withdraw from the competition, team Visayas’ athletes in elementary girls volleyball manned by Subangdaku Elementary School had to sit its team captain and another key player after one sustained a sprained ankle and the other one injured her pinky finger during competition.
Two more Visayas athletes are also resting in the billeting area in Boso-boso Highlands Resort because of high fever.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
