Manipol pulls off golden double but misses mark

PALAYAN — Mercedita Manipol came close to breaking a 26-year-old national record as she topped the 3,000 meters yesterday to make it a golden double in the Milo National Open, the centerpiece event of the Olympic Festival at the Nueva Ecija Sports Complex here.

In contrast, Southeast Asian Games hero Henry Dagmil was humbled by the strong foreign opposition late in the day as he fared miserably in his favorite event — the men’s long jump — ruled by Korean Korean Hyung Ming Park.

A day after copping the 5,000m gold medal and nearly eclipsing the national mark she herself established, the 26-year-old Manipol was in her element again as she sustained a fast pace that saw her overlap four runners en route to winning the gold in 9 minutes and 50.08 seconds.

It was, however, less than two seconds short of the record Marietta Tabangin-Magno set in the Manila National Open on April 27, 1980, the year Manipol was born.

"I was hoping I could break it, maybe next time," said Manipol, who snared the 10,000m gold and the 5,000m silver in the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, in Filipino.

"I really thought she (Manipol) was going to break the record," said Jojo Posadas, one of her coaches. "It would’ve helped if there is real competition, but there was really no challenge for her here."

On Day 1, track officials thought the San Agustin, Romblon native had eclipsed the 17.15.5 5,000m record of Arsenia Sagaray 15 years back after registering a 16.57.4.

But it was corrected later since the current mark was a 16.40.38 Manipol herself set in the 2003 Vietnam SEAG.

Meanwhile, Dagmil, 25, could only come up with a jump of 7.46m, way short of the 7.81m he posted in a new SEAG record last year. The other RP record breaker in the Manila SEAG was Arniel Ferrera in hammer throw.

Dagmil settled for fifth place as Park won the gold medal with a 7.85m throw. Taiwanese Chih Chien Chao (7.67m) and Tai Tsai (7.64m) took the silver and bronze medals while Chien Lian Wu (7.57m), also of Taiwan, placed fourth.

Park is a teammate of Lee Jin Taek, the 1998 Bangkok and 2002 Busan Asian Games high jump gold medalist who will see action at 9 a.m. today.

In the morning events, Davao City’s Teodoro Nonato ruled the boys’ long jump in 7.33m, way ahead of Michael Angelo Franial’s 7.09 and Paulo Rima’s 6.97.

Nonato’s jump was close to the 7.41 Joebert Delicano set in the Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia seven years ago. He will be recommended for inclusion to the national training pool.

In the 20,000m walk, Army man Michael Embuedo clocked in 1 hour and 45.44 minutes to beat Jessie (1:57.36.6) and Roel Ano (2:04.03.7) for the gold.