Iligan, Davao tankers sustain charge

Tubod, Lanao del Norte – Iligan City and Coastal Davao Swim Team, led by legendary tanker Jairullah Jaitullah, made big waves for the second straight day, dominating the swimming event as action picked up yesterday in the First Mindanao Friendship Games at the Mindanao Civic Center here.

Genevie Natinga easily crowned herself the queen of the pool with still a day to go after she raked in four of Iligan City’s seven gold medals in Day 2. Iligan continued to tow the field with a total haul of 13 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals.

Natinga duplicated her opening day performance after she swam her way to another four gold medals in the 50-m freestyle, 100-m freestyle, 400-m individual medley and 50-m breaststroke and a silver medal in the 800-m freestyle to hike her total to eight gold and two silver medals.

Nikko Cao Hok delivered the other two gold medals for Iligan City with victories in the 400-m freestyle and 100-m butterfly while Shahani Navarro dealt one of the two rare losses by Natinga in the 800-m freestyle.

While Natinga dominated the women’s division, Norton Alamara of Jaitullah’s team, which is competing here without support from its local government, sustained his charge in the men’s side after claiming three more gold medals.

A day after bagging two gold medals in Day 1, the 24-year-old Alamara earned three more with golds in the 200-m breaststroke, 100-m breaststroke and 50-m butterfly to make it an eight-gold haul for Jaitullah’s lean but mean squad.

Jaitullah shared the limelight after the former Olympian towed the relay team which topped the 4 x 100 m freestyle, minutes after his son, Jay, dominated the 200-m freestyle, keeping his team’s hold of second place.

In athletics, Tangub City remained the team to watch after June Lou Marie Cabal won the team’s fifth gold medal with a win in the women’s 400-m dash, beating Judilyn Miranda of Misamis Oriental and Wylin Polanquera of General Santos City.

Tangub City’s other four golds came on opening day of the centerpiece event, thanks to two gold medals by Jhonalyn Pedrita and a gold apiece by Arnold Unabia and Lucman Jhomilodin.

But it was Julieta Enrique who pulled off the sweetest victory of the day after she gave host Lanao del Norte its first gold medal with a win in the women’s discuss throw.

What made Enrique’s victory sweet was she did it over Pedrita, who humiliated her in the javelin throw and shotput events on opening day. She had a distance of 24.95 m against Pedrita’s 21 m to punctuate her victory.

In basketball, Iligan City strengthened its bid for another gold medal after it turned back Marawi City, 71-67, while Davao Oriental likewise solidified its chances by trouncing Butuan city, 78-43.