Tankers make waves in Laguna's POF bid

CAGAYAN DE ORO – Swimmer Ariana Herranz overpowered the opposition as she clinched four gold medals, all by huge margins, at the forefront of Laguna’s seven-gold medal haul at the start of the third Philippine Olympic Festival national finals at the Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Complex here yesterday.

Herranz, 11, dominated the field in the 100m and 800m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 400m individual medley while Banjo Borja, 15, racked up three victories, also in the pool, to give Laguna, the Bicol and Southern Tagalog Qualifying Games champion, the early lead in the event serving as the Philippine Olympic Committee’s talent identification and sports development program.

Herranz won by margins of 31.69 seconds in the 800m free, 25.01 seconds in 400m IM and 2.57 seconds in 100m back in the six-day meet backed by The Philippine STAR, Globe, Pagcor, Philippine Sports Commission, AMA Computer University, Summit Natural Drinking Water, Accel, Negros Navigation and Creativity Lounge.

Her slimmest winning margin was in the 100m free where she nipped Negros Oriental’s Ana Daniela Paraiso by 1.84 seconds with a clocking of 1:07.56.

Borja, who posted impressive victories in the 2004 National Championships in Bacolod City as an 11-year-old, topped the 100m back and 400m IM before anchoring his team, which included Jose Torres, Wayne Marte and Mark Gatinao, to the 200m freestyle relay gold.

Laguna, which finished third overall behind Manila and Quezon City in last year’s National Championships in Manila, also had six bronze medals.

Glen Arellano of Zamboanga del Sur and Jennylyn Surailla of Tangub City won the first gold medals in centerpiece athletics with victories in the 5,000m and 3,000m runs, respectively.

Arellano clocked 16 minutes, 47.8 seconds in besting Vincent Neri of Malaybalay, Bukidnon (16:48.0) and Arthur Fronda of Laguna (17:02.6).

Surailla, on the other hand, was timed 11:16.5, way ahead of Divina Kotongan of Baguio City (11:19.7) and Cindy Lopez of Camarines Sur (11:28.7).

In softball, Cagayan de Oro City edged Baguio, 10-9, and Tacurong routed host Misamis Oriental, 10-3, to kick off their campaigns in the girls’ division.

Rizal Technological University smashed Misamis Oriental, 13-1, in the boys’ division.

General Santos City shared the spotlight in the pool as it won four gold medals courtesy of Nikita Dacera (100m free for 17-year-olds), Lawin Dacera (400m IM for 13-14), Omar Philip Dacera (1500m free for 11-12) and its 200m freestyle relay team of Omar Dacera, Fritz Anos, Ian Cruz and Raphael Facturan.

Las Piñas also bagged three swim golds with Fahad Al-Khaldi accounting for two – in the 100m back and 1,500m free.

Jasmine Al-khaldi, a former multi-gold medalist in the Palarong Pambansa, reigned in the 100m back in 1:13.16 for Las Piñas, beating Batangas’ Christine Grace Tan (1:15.34) and General Santos’ Regiena Quesada (1:17.85).