Central Visayas ranks fourth in medal tally

CEBU, Philippines — After its gold medal rush in dancesport, Central Visayas added two more gilts to its haul to find itself at temporary fourth place in the overall standings after the second day of action in the 64th Palarong Pambansa at separate venues on Friday, July 12.

Ace Francis Bacongallo topped the elementary boys triple jump for the second gold of Region 7 in athletics event at the Cebu City Sports Center, while Amber Joy Notarte, Jayn Paller, and Athena Kate Sapio whipped up a golden performance for Region 7 in elementary girls Likha Anyo Espada y Daga team event of arnis at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex.

The host region also pocketed five more silvers in the secondary boys gymnastics all under Cluster 1 behind the efforts of Xian James de la Victoria in the vault, pommel horse, horizontal bar, floor exercises, and all-around.

As of this writing last night, the host region has already carted away a total of 45 medals sliced into 15 golds, 23 silvers, and seven bronzes to lag behind the front-running Region IV-A, defending champion National Capital Region (NCR), and Region VI-Western Visayas.

Calabarzon is on top of the table with a 29-13-18 gold-silver-bronze haul. NCR is within striking range at second with 26 golds on top of 14 silvers, and 24 bronzes, while Western Visayas is at third spot with a uniform 16-16-16 tally.

Region XI-Davao Region is running fifth with a 13-14-11 count. Rounding up the Top 12 in the leaderboard are Region V-Bicol Region (9-8-4), Region IX-Zamboanga Peninsula (6-2-4), Region XII-Socsksargen (5-11-15), Region III-Central Luzon (4-11-11), Region X-Northern Mindanao (4-7-11), Region VIII-Eastern Visayas (4-5-9), and Region XIII-Caraga (4-3-4).

Meanwhile, Sophia Rose Garra of NCR and Jasmine Mojdeh of Calabarzon delivered the worthiest performance as records fell in swimming competition.

Garra continued to come through with a tidal wave of a performance by hauling two more golds in the elementary girls 200-meter individual medley and in the4x100m medley relay with Adrienne Reese Tacuboy, Alessandra Therese Martin and Gabrielle Gayle Ocampo to hike her total gold haul to four.

That fourth in the relay, Garra and the Big City bets timed in four minutes and 49.74 seconds in eclipsing the 19-year-old mark of 4:55.08 set by the Jasmine Alkhaldi-led NCR team in Naga City, Camarines Sur. It was Garra s third record-smashing feat following her brilliance in the 100m back and 4x50m medley relay the day before.

Mojdeh also kept sparkling at the pool where she delivered her second record-breaking performance in the secondary girls 200m breaststroke. There, she clocked two minutes and 41.75 seconds that destroyed the five-year-old mark set by Xiandi Chua of the NCR in Davao City that came a day after the reigning Asian Youth bronze medalist rearranged the 200m butterfly mark.

In athletics, Western Visayas  Charls Daniel Turla joined the record-bashing spree. He struck a new elementary javelin throw mark of 60.26m, erasing the eight-year-old standard of 57.20m registered by Calabarzon s Jerick Mendoza in Legazpi, Albay.

Turla s teammate Mico Villaran, the most bemedalled athlete in centerpiece track and field in the Marikina edition last year, shattered the secondary boys  110m hurdles record of 14.68 seconds set by Patrick Unso in Tagum, Davao del Norte nine years back by clocking 14.53.

It was, however, nullified as the newly resurfaced track was substandard as it reportedly measured around 398m. The 16-year-old Ramonito Maravilla NHS student from Bacolod City later lost in the afternoon races in the 200m, one of the four events he topped a year ago.