Iloilo City – ‘Girls just wanna have fun,’ Cyndi Lauper used to crow. And in the ongoing 20th Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals in Iloilo City, young Cebuana athletes are having truckloads of fun.
Cebu’s top female athletes bared their fangs in their respective events yesterday, harvesting multiple gold medals in the first day of bruising athletic competitions of the Milo regionals at various venues, here.
Raven Faith Alcoseba of Asian College of Technology (ACT), Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s (SHS-AdC) Shanelle Demilys Siasoyco, University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department’s (USC-BED) Mary Joy Loberanis and University of the Visayas’ (UV) Daniella Reggie Dela Pisa went on a gold-snatching rampage as the Cebuanos stamped their class in the multi-sports regional tilt.
Alcoseba hauled three golds in swimming, Siasoyco captured two in secondary girls discus throw and shot put while Loberanis hauled three gilts in track and field.
DELA PISA SIZZLES
Dela Pisa however, was the most productive of the Cebuanas after bagging five golds medals in gymnastics and putting UV on top of the temporary General Championship Points (GCP) standings in the elementary division.
Alcoseba,12, who is a “Most Outstanding Athlete (MOA)” awardee in the National Finals last year in Marikina City, topped the secondary girls 800m freestyle, 200m Individual Medley (IM) and 100m back stroke at the Central Philippines University (CPU) pool.
Her teammates, Charles Jeremiah Lipuran, John Philip Kong and Marielle Estreba also won a gold each in the 200m butterfly secondary boys, 400m freestyle elementary boys and 400m freestyle elementary girls, respectively.
Siasoyco,16, proved without peer in girls shot put and discus throw at the Oton National High School which has a sand oval. Her teammate, Brittney Moira Canete also won gold in the secondary girls 100m run.
Loberanis, 13, the pint-sized running dynamo of USC-BED was virtually unchallenged in the 3,000m and 800m runs and helped USC-BED’s secondary athletics team finish day one with five gold medals. The overall defending champion’s other gold medal winners were Seth Abraham Pilapil (100m run), John Dean Alfeche (secondary boys shot put) and Francis John Arnibal who pocketed the first gold medal of the entire meet by dominating the secondary boys 5,000m run.
UV’s star gymnast, 11-year old Dela Pisa swept all her five disciplines in rhythmic gymnastics at the La Paz Plaza covered gymnasium, putting UV on top in the elementary tally with 15 General Championship Points.
UV also took the lead in the secondary division GCP also with 15 points after its high school gymnasts won three golds, two by Marianne Alegedo and one by Eunice Odag.
Dela Pisa was also a MOA awardee in last year’s National Finals.
Trinity Christian School of Bacolod City took temporary second behind UV in the secondary tally with 10 points followed by USJ-R with seven points. The elementary division also have the same schools in the top three.
GOOD START
Overall, Cebu based schools have auspicious starts yesterday particularly in the ball games.
USC-BED, the defending champion in both elementary and secondary basketball, routed its rivals at the Western Visayas State University (WVSU) arena.
USC-BED’s elementary cagers thrashed WVSU, 64-14, at the latter’s home court while their secondary squad outplayed Abellana National School (ANS), 73-39, at the Ilo-ilo Sports Complex.
Also, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) ripped CPU, 39-19, in the elementary division while Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) crushed Iloilo Central Elementary School (ICES), 35-14.
SHS-AdC’s secondary squad thrashed Iloilo National High School (INHS), 82-67.
In football, Visayas Regional Finals secondary division defending champions, PAREF Springdale blanked Iloilo NHS, 11-0 at the La Paz Plaza football field.
In volleyball played at the CPU campus, ANS defeated Pavia National High School (PNHS) of Iloilo City, 25-13, 22,25, 25-20, USC-BED’s secondary girls won over PNHS,25-20,25-14,while SHS-AdC’s elementary girls team routed ICES,25-8,25-9.