NCR bets splash way to 8 golds

ILOILO — National Capital Region won eight of 16 gold medals staked at the start of the swimming competitions yesterday as the Big City bets remained in control of the 2005 Palarong Pambansa at the Iloilo Sports Complex here yesterday.

Ryan Arabejo produced the worthiest victory for the NCR contingent as he copped the gold in the 400-meter freestyle in the secondary division in record-setting fashion. He clocked four minutes and 36 seconds to eclipse the old mark of 4:11.79 set by Athens Olympian Juan Carlo Piccio in the 1998 Bacolod edition of the annual event.

But it was Hassan Ahmad Yakob who sparked the gold rush for the 2000 overall champions by topping the 200-m freestyle in 2:19.80, before Marinella Arabejo followed suit in the 100-m backstroke, Matthew Tan in the 200-m backstroke, and NCR’s 4x50-m medley relay squad of Tessa and Althea Alcantara, Claudine Desena and Maxine Laurel.

NCR also bagged three more golds in the elementary division, two courtesy of Dorothy Ong in the 200-m freestyle and its 4x50-m girls’ medley relay squad.

The NCR tankers’ solid performance more than made up for the team’s losing stand in gymnastics.

After dominating the elementary rhythmic gymnastics through Rachelyn Astillar, NCR was bumped off the podium by Calabarzon in the artistics gymnastics team event.

Calabarzon’s Jomel Moneliano, Reynel Fajil and Joy Franz Villegas combined for 48.225 points to beat the NCR troika of Julius Cesar Catipon, Adrian Abrogada, who had 48 for the silver. Central Visayas took the bronze with 47.55.

While NCR ruled it over in the pool, arch rival Western Visayas stamped its class in athletics with Ma. Quennie Tudillo and Rey Dennis Bacay winning the gold medals in the secondary girls’ javelin throw and boys’ shot put, respectively, raising the host region’s gold-medal haul to four in this five-day track and field meet which stakes a total of 68 gold medals.

Lovely Christine Olaira and Janette Bayalas accounted for Western Visayas’ first two golds by ruling the secondary discus throw and elementary shot put events, respectively, Monday.

Tudillo threw the spear in 33.50 meters, outclassing Central Luzon’s Maricel Galang (32.29) and Bicol’s Aiza Rosero (31.29), while the 16-year-old Bacay made a 13.40-meter effort, beating teammate Gusti Pido’s 12.88 and Central Visayas bet Clifford Bonjoc’s 12.66.

For a while Bacay had thought of shattering the long-standing Palaro record.

"Nabura ko ba?" asked Bacay, who idolizes fellow Binalbagan native and national team mainstay Arnel Ferreria.

Bacay, who trained under the late, noted Irish coach Fr. Coloun O’Halpen of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, actually eclipsed the 13.19m record set by Arthur Enon 15 years ago but it turned out that the shot put used weighed only 5.44 kilograms, lighter than the standard 6-kg weight.

Also sharing the spotlight was NCR’s Sonny Boy Tartana, who shattered the elementary boys discus throw mark of 36.04 by Alejandro Lonzaga of Davao in Tubod, Lanao del Norte two years ago with a throw of 36.12m.

It came after 11-year-old Richard Maulion of Calabarzon tallied the meet’s first record-breaking feat by smashing Davao native Jeffrey Anosa’s elementary triple jump record of 12.47m with a 12.48m leap late Monday.

Mimaropa’s Belinda Jimenez, on the other hand, clinched the secondary triple jump gold with a distance of 11.24 meters. Jimenez bested Merilyn Teodisio (11.14) of Western Visayas and Maricel Soriano (11.01) of Calabarzon.