13TH Milo Little Olympics UC, SHS-J set early pace

Six athletics records tumble as the University of Cebu (UC) and Sacred Heart School-Jesuit pulled ahead of the pack in their respective divisions at the start of the 13th Milo Little Olympics-Visayas yesterday at the Cebu City Sports Center.

No new meet records for the entire MLO-Visayas, however, could be determined right now as the complete results of athletics event are not yet available.

Perennial secondary division champion UC carted away five of the six gold medals at stake in the first day of track and field events.

The tried and tested Carl Jeanette Malazarte improved his own mark in the 1,500m run, from 4’38”09 to 4’30”41 this year. In the distaff side, Vlessica Jagna also established a new record of 5’20”18.

UC’s shot put bet Jasper Basister and high jumper Sarah Mae Napoles also toppled the records of last year’s edition of the multi-sport gathering. Basister topped the shot put event after heaving the iron ball to a distance of 9.87 meters, eclipsing the old mark of 8.02 set by Sunday Modelo, while Napoles cleared the high bar to a record height of 1.4m.

Napoles’ victory did not come in handy as she had to go through a tie-breaker match with her teammate Kristie Kaye Vineo.

Leslie Abad handed UC’s fifth gold medal of the day via women’s shot put.

Cebu City Don Carlos A. Gothong Memorial National High School prevented UC from claiming all the golds available in the secondary level through the efforts of Ivan Castaneda, who ruled the high jump competition. He cleared 1.63m to get even with his last year’s tormentor Leonilo Retubado of the University of the Visayas (UV) who only managed 1.6m this time.

UC is trailed in the medal tally by the CCDCAGMNHS with one gold and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation with a silver and bronze. Paref-Springdale and Sisters of Mary are at joint fourth with a bronze each.

SHS-J, on the other hand, sets the early pace in the elementary level with three golds courtesy of Gerard Geronimo Beniga and Brittina Cañete in high jump and Thesa Danielle Teng in the shotput.

Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) sprang a major surprise as it bagged a gold, three silvers, and a bronze to temporarily take the second place. Frey Jhey Sordillas produced CIT’s first gold after lording it over in shotput with a record distance of 6.72m.

It was actually a 1-2 finish for CIT in shotput with Kent Abello winning the silver.

Talamban’s Welfredo Pening and Quiot’s Adela Canilo joined the list of gold medallists after coming out the best in the 1,500m run.

Action resumes today with a total of 26 golds up for grabs in both divisions.