5,000 bets converge in Ramos sports center: 60th PRISAA meet under way

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – Action in the 60th PRISAA Collegiate Games goes in full swing today with a total of 45 gold medals to be disputed in various events, including athletics and swimming, at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) here.

Finals will be held in men’s and women’s javelin throw, the men’s 5000-meter run, men’s and women’s long jump and women’s 3,000-meter run in the morning games while the early gold medals will also be up for grabs in the men’s and women’s shotput, triple jump, men’s 100-m hurdles and women’s 100-m hurdles.

Also on tap is the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase finals late in the afternoon.

There will be 13 gold medals at stake for the day in athletics, one of the 18 sports being contested in the collegiate level of what has long been considered as the country’s largest athletic meet which features around 500 member schools and universities from 17 regions.

A total of 1,122 gold, silver and bronze medals will be disputed over four days of competitions.

Over at the Dagupan City pool, 32 finals events in men’s and women’s divisions will be disputed, including men’s and women’s 200-m freestyle, 100-m breastroke, 200-m butterfly, 100-m backstroke, 400-m individual medley, 50-m freestyle, 4x50 medley relay and 4x100 freestyle relay.

The swimming medals up for grabs today are expected to go higher counting those staked in secondary level, where only Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Region 3 (Central Luzon) have entries.

Swimming tournament director Richard Luna said they are adopting the “timed finals” format in all events in both men’s and women’s divisions, meaning the top three best times after the heats will automatically get the gold, silver and bronze medals.