RP team dropout rips 68-year old mark; Fil-Ams struggle

An athlete who was recently dropped from the national team broke an ancient 68-year-old Philippine record in men’s long jump yesterday as the National Open Track and Field Championship got off to a good start at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Henry Dagmil, a 22-year old Mapua student who was dropped from the national team early this year, came out of nowhere to win the gold medal with a jump of 7.83 meters. It broke the previous record of 7.65 set by Nino Ramirez in the May 2, 1936 National Open.

It also surpassed the 7.79 mark which Mohd Zaki Sadri of Malaysia registered during the Jakarta SEA Games in 1997.

Dagmil setting a new record caught everybody at surprise.

"All we hoped for was get close to the record," said Mapua coach Joseph Sy.

Dagmil, a 5-foot-8 native of Gen. Santos City, saw action in the Vietnam SEA Games last year and didn’t even come close to a medal. But he kept on training despite being stripped of his allowance as a Class C national athlete.

As a cost-cutting measure, the Philippine Sports Commission decided early this year to take Class C athletes out of its payroll. Dagmil’s record-breaking performance, however, could make the PSC change its mind.

The silver went to Jobert Delicano of the Philippine Air Force at 7.46 while the bronze went to Jhomilodin Lucman of Philippine Army at 6.96. Dagmil set the new record on his fifth jump and didn’t even bother to take his last attempt.

Eduardo Buenavista, as expected, won the gold in the men’s 10,000 meters with a time 30 minutes 11 seconds. He said he failed to even match his national record of 29.02 due to lack of stiff opposition. A Korean who started the race quit midway through it.

The Fil-American athletes failed to make a great impression. Four of them did well in the heats of their respective events but two of them failed to land any medal in the finals of the women’s 10,000 m.

Those who passed the initial tests were Gary Cablayan (100m), Kashus Perona (400m), Breanne Bumanlag (100m) and Krizia Apelar (400m). Rose Supangan and Jenny Buncio failed to win a medal in women’s 10,000m won by Merceditas Manipol in 38:35.38.

Buncio, in fact, tried to so hard that she collapsed after crossing the finish. She was clearly out of breath and needed more than 10 minutes before she could even stand on her own. She was later brought to nearby Manila Sanitarium due to extreme dehydration.

Twenty-three gold medals will be disputed today with Lerma Bulauitan going for the gold in women’s long jump.

Narcisa Atienza of Philippine Army won the gold in women’s high jump (1.75m). She matched the RP record, which she herself set during the 2002 National Open. Finishing second behind her was Korea‘s Myong-Hee Shin (1.65m) followed by Rochelle Dayao of the PAF (1.45m).

Atienza won the silver medal in women’s high jump of the 2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (1.74m) but landed only fifth in last year’s Vietnam SEA Games. She has concentrated in heptathlon since then.

"Humina ako sa high jump dahil sa paglipat ko sa heptathlon. Ang sabi kasi ng coach namin mas may potential ako sa heptathlon," said the 24-year-old Atienza.

Frank Elizalde, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative to the Philippines, graced the opening rites. He was joined at the VIP stands by athletics chief Go Teng Kok, PSC commissioners Mike Barredo and Ambrosio de Luna, and RP baseball president Hector Navasero.

The first gold medal of the four-day meet went to Anthony Dandan of Adamson University who ruled the 10,000m walk for boys with a time of 55 minutes 46.3 seconds. The race was held at the track oval just after sunrise. It drew eight entries, none of them a foreigner.

Winning the silver at 57:38.9 was Delio Balayas of the Northern Visayas State University while taking home the bronze at 59:33.0 was Israel Moyano of University of Baguio. The rest of the entries failed to break the one-minute barrier.

Other early winners were Michael Embuedo of Philippine Air Force in men’s 20,000m walk (1:48.44.4), Maricel Mariano of Laguna Team A in girls’ long jump (5.57m), Mitchell Martines of Escalante City in women’s shot put (11.44m); Allan Loid Lumabao of Ilocos Norte in boys’s javelin throw (60.17m) and Jaso Bert Lalaan of Tangub City Track Club in boys’ pole vault (3.80m).