Baguio bet rips hammer throw mark

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – Loralie Amahit-Sermona picked up from where her husband, 10,000-meter run champ Julius, left off and even did better, carving out a record-breaking triumph in the POC-PSC National Games at the Perdices Sports Complex yesterday.

Carrying the Baguio City banner, national mainstay Amahit-Sermona, masterfully heaved the hammer to 50.03 meters on her third try to rule athletics’ women’s hammer throw event with plenty to spare. More importantly, the 30-year-old thrower shattered the 49.79m Phl mark that she herself set in her bronze-medal performance in last year’s SEA Games. 

Amahit-Sermona’s achievement highlighted a generally productive day for national tracksters, who had routine victories in their respective events, led by the double-gold production of Katherine Santos (women’s 100-meter dash and triple jump) and Narciza Atienza (women’s shot put and high jump).

It was also business-as-usual for London-bound Jessie King Lacuna at the Lorenzo Teves Aquatics Center, where he easily reigned in his first two events in the sportsfest organized by PSC and POC and backed by Smart Communications, Standard Insurance, Accel, Summit Mineral Water, AKTV, Ayala Corporation, Puregold Price Club, Scratch it! Go for Gold, SM Investments Corp., 2Go, Pocari Sweat, The Philippine STAR, and Cebu Pacific.

Bulacan’s Lacuna swam his way to the boys’ 19 and over 400m freestyle crown in 4:12.95, beating Davao’s Jose Joaquin Gonzales (4:14.12) then annexed the 100m freestyle in 55.45 at the expense of Gonzales (55.65) and Negros Oriental’s Adrian Bonoan (1:08.09) to kick off his multi-mint bid.

Cebu City and the host province made their presence felt in first day of action on the pool, snaring six gold medals apiece. Romylin Ignacio topped the girls’ 17-18 400m free (5:52.93), 200m back (2:55.68) and 100m free (1:15.06) to lead the Cebuanos’ charge.

Amahit-Sermona rewrote the standard only a few hours after her hubby parried the challenge of a Kenyan runner and veteran Eduardo Buenavista in winning the first event of the track.

“It was really my target to break the record here,” she said in Filipino.

With her lone assignment in the PNG over and done with, Amahit-Sermona’s next task is to rally behind Julius as he vies for a second gold in the men’s 5,000 meter run.

“I wasn’t able to cheer for him during the 10,000m as I was focused on my event,” said the record-breaker, who received cash incentive from Philippine Sports commissioner Jolly Gomez as reward for the feat.

Baguio lass Santos, 21, was trying to make an assault at the record books, too, but tight scheduling of her two events prevented her from joining Amahit-Sermona in the annals.

Santos made a leap of 12.62 meters on her initial try in the triple jump event, which was actually more than enough to dispose of the opposition, and only about 15 minutes later, with sand all over her, took part in the century dash finale. 

She won the race in 12.17 seconds, beating Laguna’s Hanelyn Loquinto (12.38) and HyperSports’ Krizia Leah Apelar (12.45) as the meet’s fastest woman.

`”I was so overwhelmed,” said the 5 foot-4 Santos, shedding tears after ruling the premiere running event and visibly shaking when she got into the starting blocks.

Realizing she’s only .05 meters from at least matching Olympic-bound Marestella Torres’ 12.67m Phl record in triple jump, Santos headed back to the table officials to ask if she could still make another attempt.

``I really wanted to go for the record but the officials said the competition was over, and my coach (Lerma Bulauitan) also told me not to push it,’’ said Santos, a senior HRM student at the University of Baguio, who was a runaway winner over Cebu’s Irin Baluran (11.55m), and Maria Felice Ellaga (10.22).

Laguna bet Atienza went two-for-three in her assignments, stamping her class in high jump (1.75m) and shot put (11.28m) while settling for second in javelin (42.86m) behind teammate Rosie Villarito (48.42m).

Veteran Henry Dagmil zoomed to 100m title for Laguna, clocking 10.88 seconds over PAF-HyperSports’ Romnick Herida (11.02) and WIT-Iloilo’s Joepet Asdolo (11.44) while seasoned pole vaulter Emerson Obiena of PAF-HyperSports showed he still has it, victorious in 4.10m over Hua Lion’s Antonio Chua (4.00) and Run for Change’s Jesson Ramil Cid (3.60m) 

Triple jump specialist Joebert of PAF-HyperSports did not have the same moment of glory as he yielded his PNG title to 6-foot-3 Taiwanese rival Kai-Hsiang Chen of Chinese Culture University. Delicano leapt 15.18m, an effort that Chen surpassed with his third leap of 15.43m. 

The 18-year-old Lacuna is set to swim in six events but doesn’t really expect to submit his best time here.

“I’m still not peaking yet,” said Lacuna, gearing up for next month’s Southeast Asian Championships in Singapore. “We are still loading on techniques and maybe try to peak by end of June.”

National team mainstays imposed their will in other fronts with Marinel Rudas copping the women’s singles tiara in tennis after dispatching Cebu City’s Sally Mae Siso, 6-2, 6-3, at the Capitol Tennis Center while the Phl karatedo team romped off with six of the seven plums in kumite play at Robinsons Place.

Phl karatekas Ramon Franco, Jr (men’s 55kg), Grace Ripalda (women’s 50kg), Mary Antonette Ailes (women’s 55kg), Jason Macaalay (men’s 60kg), Rexor Tacay (men’s 67kg), Michelle Villamor (women’s 68 kg) and Randolf Marangu (men’s 75k) ruled their respective divisions.