Veterans grab spotlight

A long jumper, a walkathoner and a shot put bet made the most noteworthy performances in the inaugurals of the 2000 Milo Invitational Track and Field Championships at the Rizal Memorial Stadium yesterday.

Marestella Torres, Harry Castillo and Mitchell Martinez won their respective events with plenty to spare, seizing the spotlight at the start of the four-day multi-nation event.

Torres, a Negros Oriental native who first made waves by ruling the Palaro ng Bayan long jump event, did it again in the Milo invitational, winning the gold in the girls' long jump with a leap of 5.88 meters.

It was far from her personal best of 6.3 meters but well above the mark of second placer Lea Ann Secreto of La Salle (5.50) and Leslie Cercado of University of Santo Tomas (5.42).

She later got a crack at the gold in the 100-meter dash as she topped the second of the two-group semifinals with a time of 11.9 seconds. Chantal Balani submitted the best time in the first heat at 11.7 seconds.

"Medyo sinwerte nang kaunti. Hindi maganda 'yung tinalon ko ngayon pero masaya pa rin ako dahil napanalunan ko pa rin 'yung gintong medalya," said Torres.

Canlillo, an Armyman, topped a tough field in the 20,000-M walk, winning it in 1:43:14.4 while Martinez made mincemeat of her women's shot put opponents with a throw of 12.41 meters.

Also making their presence felt in yesterday's rain-drenched competition were javelin thrower Ruben Gongano and pole vaulter Froilan Casagan.

Gangono won the boy's javelin throw (46.91m) over two fellow Tangub City natives Harold Cabal (46.26m) and Aljun Alforo (45.39m).

Actually Casagan and La Union's Carlito Ronquillo cleared 3.25m in pole vault but the former got the gold medal on fewer attempts.

Not to be outdone were foreign bets Suniljit Singh of Malaysia and Lin Su Chi of Chinese Taipei.