Amandoron betters mark

Geralyn Amandoron, a soft-spoken native of Mandaue City who dreams of making it big someday, yesterday showed the kind of stuff she’s made of when she surpassed the SEA Games record in the women’s javelin during the second day of the 2001 Milo Invitational track and field championships at the sun-baked Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Amandoron, 22, only in her second year with the national team but easily one of the country’s finest track athletes today, won the silver behind Singapore’s Zhang Guirong but still proved to be the day’s biggest newsmaker as she eclipsed the SEA Games record of 51.10 meters by an Indonesian in 1987 with her spectacular throw of 53.75.

Guirong, who also won the shot put gold last Thursday, won the gold with a throw of 54.34 while another Filipina, Rosie Villarito of Far Eastern University, took the bronze at 41.11. Guirong is one of four Chinese nationals here, all of them seeking Singaporean citizenships in time for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games later this year.

Amandoron, barely 5’2 and dwarfed by Guirong’s imposing 6-foot frame, surpassed the SEAG record on her fourth attempt while the latter posted her best throw on her sixth and last attempt. Earlier this month, Amandoron won the gold in the Thailand Open with an effort of 51 meters flat.

For her feat, Amandoron, whose mother Leodita, a widow, owns a sari-sari store in their native province, received a whopping P50,000 cash incentive from Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos Tuason after the awarding ceremony witnessed by a good-sized crowd that braved the intense summer heat like all the participants.

"Malaking tulong po ito. Masayang-masaya po ako. Sa performance ko naman, dahan-dahan lang po ang inaasahan naming improvement para huwag masyado mabatak," Amandoron was quoted as saying. Amandoron won the Palarong Pambansa javelin gold in 1996, the year she was discovered by former champion Erlinda Lavandia, until 1998, the year she joined the national team.

"Steady talaga ang improvement niya magmula noong 1998," said athletics chief Go Teng Kok, who was so ecstatic due to the fact that his prized recruit now stands as one of the country’s brightest prospects in the Kuala Lumpur Games. "We still expect her to further improve at siya mismo ang nagsasabi na kaya niya pang abutin ang 55 meters."

In other fronts, Lerma Bulauitan expectedly won the golds in the women’s long jump and the century dash while Jimar Aing topped the men’s 100-meter run against an all-Pinoy field.

Bulauitan, 26, from Tuguegarao, Cagayan, also defeated an all-Pinoy field to win the long jump gold at 6.25 meters, better than the silver-medal jump of Maristella Torres (6.07) and the bronze-medal effort of Morena Gestiada (5.05). In the century dash, she won with a time of 11.6 seconds in beating Thailand’s Erranut Klomdee (12.0), who stumbled to the finish.

"Okay naman ang performance pero siyempre, may improvement pa na kailangan. At least, medyo kakatakutan na sa SEA Games," said Bulauitan, winner of the long jump bronze during the 1999 Brunei SEA Games at 6.27. She has a personal best of 6.36 set in practice last July and did 6.14 in winning the gold in the recent Thailand Open.

Aing, an enlisted man at the Philippine Navy, won the gold in 10.9 seconds, followed by the 11.3 of Filemon Pasante and the 11.5 of Joemerd Geveso. Other gold winners for the Philippines yesterday were John Lozada in the men’s 800-meter race (1:50.3) and Melinda Manahan in the women’s 10,000-m walk (1:02:14.6).