Muros great at 38, beats bets half her age

Though her winning time was way off the Philippine record, Elma Muros-Posadas set her own record of sorts when she ruled the women’s 100 m hurdles of the ongoing National Open track and field championships at age 38.

"Sabi ko na eh. Mag-ingat sila dahil baka masulot ko sila," said Posadas, the SEA Games legend who defeated six other runners for the gold with her time of 14.90 seconds yesterday morning.

Posadas was already relaxing with her husband-trainer Jojo when interviewed by mediamen at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. She said she felt so good heading into the race and therefore wasn’t surprised by the result.

"Masayang-masaya lang ako. Pero maganda talaga ang pakiramdam ko kaya medyo expected ko din," said Posadas, holder of both the RP and SEA Games record which stands at 13.66.

Most of those who ran against Posadas are almost twice as young at 18 or 20 years old.

But they simply failed to keep up with Posadas, a mother of two. The silver went to Sheena Artillano of TMS Shipping Lines at 15.07 and the bronze to Mariz Cotoner of FEU at 16.50.

"Sana nga dise-otso ulit ako. Kaya dapat itong mga batang ito ay mag-pursige," said Muros, who came out of semi-retirement to win the gold and boost her chances of making it to the RP team to this year’s SEA Games.

Posadas, eyeing a slot in the heptathlon event of the SEA Games, still has to shed off some pounds to achieve that goal. She now weighs 129 lbs and went as heavy as 142 lbs before giving birth to her second child, George Michael, almost two years ago.

Their eldest, 12-year-old Clarisse Yvonne, is fast following her mother’s footsteps. She runs the century dash in 13 seconds flat and the 200 m in 29.7 seconds.

"Maganda ang bloodline. May kapalit na si Elma," said the father, Jojo. Clarisse, a Grade 6 scholar at Brent, had also clocked 1:10.0 in the 400 m while some college students are doing 1:07.

Three RP records were broken in the second day of competitions — those in men’s hammer throw courtesy of Arnel Ferrera of Ateneo, men’s high jump through Sean Guevarra and girls’ 10,000 m walk through Maricel Diaz of FEU.

Ferrera won the gold with an effort of 56.74 meters, breaking his own RP mark of 55.67 established last February in the UAAP competition. The SEA Games mark stands at 58.80. It was actually his second gold in the four-day meet after topping the discus throw the other day at 44.81 meters.

Guevarra set a new RP high jump record at 2.17 meters, breaking the previous mark of 2.16 byLuis Juico in 1987. Diaz had a winning time 1:01.54.7 to surpass the old record of 1:02.06.5 set by Rosalie Quinto during the 1983 National Open.

Yesterday’s other gold medal winners were RP team mainstay Maristella Torres in women’s long jump (6.47 meters), Rosie Villarito of the Army in women’s javelin (46.46 m), Julie Rose Forbes of the Navy in women’s 800 m (2:14.85), Tersiana Riwu Rohi of Indonesia in women’s 10,000 m walk (53:15.2), John Lozada of the Navy in the men’s 800 m (1:52.14) and Julius Nieras in the men’s 400 m hurdles (53.58).

In Thursday’s competitions, Narcisa Atienza won the women’s high jump with a leap over 1.78 meters on her first try. (The STAR erroneously reported the event as a long jump).