A duel to the very end

John Marvin Rafols of UC lands on the sandpit after completing his gold medal-winning jump in secondary boys’ long jump in the 2015 Cebu City Olympics at the Cebu City Sports Center. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

USC, UC set torrid battle for Olympics overall title

It will be a bruising battle down to the last gold medal.

Secondary archrivals University of Cebu and back-to-back overall defending champions University of San Carlos-Basic Education (USC-BED) has set the stage for another torrid duel for the 25th Cebu City Olympics overall crown, with both teams separated only by five gold medals heading into today’s final play date of the city-wide games.

The Webmasters retained its lead yesterday but saw its advantage narrowed down to just five golds by the resilient Warriors based on official and partial medal count. UC has 39 gold medals, 34 silvers and 18 bronzes while the Warriors have a 34-40-19 tally. Unit 6 is in third spot with a 12-4-12 harvest.

In the elementary division, Unit 7, manned mostly by USC-BED is leading the medal standings with a 32-24-25 haul followed by Unit 4 (20-8-16) and Unit 8 (14-19-15).

The UC tracksters won five golds yesterday while USC-BED bagged eight to dramatically trim the Webmasters’ lead.

UC’s gold medal winners include Jhuvan Jehn Baculot who chipped in two gold medals for UC after topping the secondary high jump and triple jump, John Marvin Rafols (boys’ long jump), Samantha Limos (200m run) and UC’s girls 4x100m relay.

USC-BED’s winners include Mary Joy Loberanis (3,000m and 800m runs), Jon Francis Arnibal (5,000m), Seth Abram Pilapil (200m), Stephen Pekit-pekit (high jump), Jan Allyson Pajantoy (discus throw), Jan Dean Durano (discus throw) and its boys’ 4x100m relay.

Unit 7’s gold medal haul came from its elementary football squad manned by USC-BED which defeated Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus (SHS-HdJ), 2-0, in the final while its tracksters added three gold medals yesterday.

Unit 9 or the Abellana National School (ANS) shone in billiards, sepak takraw and baseball. ANS’ Jenessa Mae Bajenting won golds in the 8-ball and 9-ball secondary girls’ competition. Unit 1 topped elementary softball while Unit 4 ruled elementary baseball and sepak takraw.

The Scrabble event saw University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and the Cebu City National Science High School ruling the elementary and secondary competition, respectively.

GYMNASTICS

University of Visayas (UV) collected eight gold medals, seven silvers and three bronzes in secondary gymnastics with Diane Sophia Navarro accounting for five of the Lancers’ collection after topping the floor exercise, vault, balance beam, mushroom bar and all-around event. She teamed up with Eunice Soronio and Francin Coyoca to top the team competition. Also, teammate Randal Iverson Dela Pisa won golds in secondary men’s floor exercise and all-around event.

USC-BED’s Paulo Castañeda earned a gold medal in the secondary vault while teammate Jesus Zaragoza snatched the gold in the mushroom event.

In secondary football, the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) stunned PAREF Springdale via dramatic shoot-out. Both teams finished the regulation tied, 1-1, but DBTC, the back-to-back defending champion, edged out PAREF Springdale in the shootout, 5-3.