Velez Palaro's most bemedalled athlete

BACOLOD CITY -- Kerschtine Velez collected a record seven gold medals, and the National Capital Region virtually clinched the elementary and high school overall titles worth P2-M on the penultimate day of the Millennium Palarong Pambansa here.

Velez had a perfect 7-for-7, anchoring the Western Visayas quartet to a record-breaking win in the girls' 12 and under 4x100-meter freestyle relay in 4:29.35, surpassing the old mark of 4:44.13 by an NCR team in the 1998 Centennial Palaro at the same pool.

Guiriba annexed his fifth individual gold in record style, topping the boys' 12 and under 50-meter butterfly although he fell one medal short of sweeping his own schedule after the Southern Tagalog team relegated the NCR squad to the silver in the boys' 12 and under 4x100-meter freestyle.

Guiriba, nevertheless, once again rewrote the record twice in the 50 butterfly en route to a victory in 28.03 seconds in the finals, besting the old 29.28 mark of Nikki Cao Hok in the 1998 Palaro set at the same pool.

For the outstanding feats of Guiriba and Velez, Philippine Sports commissioner Monico Puentevella said both will be awarded special trophies in today's closing ceremonies plus P20,000 in cash incentives each.

"They will get their trophies tomorrow and I will see to it that the PSC gives them P20,000 each since what they accomplished was truly exceptional," Puentevella said.

With Vice President Gloria Macapagal unavailable due to pressing matters back in Manila, organizers have moved the closing ceremonies one day ahead of schedule today.

As of noontime yesterday, NCR was on top of the elementary standings with an 18-9-10 gold-silver-bronze medal tally, Western Visayas was running second (13-8-6) and Southern Tagalog (10-11-10) third.