Ulboc dethrones Herrera; Cid rips decathlon mark

NAY PYI TAW – Five-time champion Rene Herrera yielded the baton to first-timer Christopher Ulboc Jr., who pressed his bid with a blistering pace in the last 400 meters to win pulling away in the 3,000m steeplechase of the Southeast Asian Games athletic competition yesterday at the Wunnum Theikdi Sports Complex.

The 23-year-old Ulboc Jr., from Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, became the new king of the 3,000m steeplechase as he outclassed the rest of the opposition with a winning time of 9:01.59 and ended the reign of Herrera, winner of the event since 2005.

“It’s nice to have a teammate win the event. I’m getting old and it’s time to pass the baton,” said Herrera, 34.

“I thank Rene (Herrera) for setting the pace. Without that, it would have been difficult to win,” said Ulboc, a physical education graduate of Far Eastern University.

Herrera set the pace from the start and even as an Indonesian briefly sped into the lead before the last 400 meters, Herrera kept abreast until Ulboc surged into the lead in the final bend.

He made one final push in the straight and, taking one last look at the runners behind, found he was leading by at least 20 meters and pumped his fist in triumph as he cruised to the finish line

Jason Ramil Cid, leading until the ninth event of the decathlon, formalized his win in the 1,500 meter run.

He had 7,038 points, which broke the mark of 6,963 by Fidel Gallenero in 2003 in the Vietnam SEA Games.

Indonesian Zakaria Malik took the silver with 6711 points and Vietnamese Nguyen Van Day the bronze with 6383.

Cid, 25, was leading by 104 points after nine events. Converted into minutes in the 1,500 meters, he enjoyed a lead time of 18 seconds or a 120-meter headstart, a huge gap to cover for Malik, who was more a field event specialist than a runner.

The victory capped two years of intensive training for Cid, who trained under FEU coach Sean Guevarra to improve his personal best of 6,100 points, a shade lower than the record of 6,473 points of Fil-Hungarian David Bunevacs, to what it was in the Myanmar Games.

Women’s long jumper Katherine Kay Santos, taking over from compatriot Maristella, Torres the SEAG 2009 and 2011 gold medalist who is pregnant with her first baby, was fourth with a jump over 5.93 meters. The gold went to Indonesia’s Maria Londa (6.39), the silver to Thitma of Thailand (6.24m) and the bronze toThi Thu Thao Bui of Vietnam (6.14m).

Women’s 3000 m steeplechaser Jessica Barnard took the bronze 11:04.08 behind gold medal winner Rini Budiarti of Indonesia (10:04.84) and silver  medalist Thi Qanh Nguyen of  Vietnam (10:30.92).

Fil-American high jumper Tyler Ruiz failed in his bid for a gold medal, placing only fourth with a jump of 2.09m. Malaysian Nauraj Singh Ranhawa won the gold, Vietnam’s Van Thuy Go the silver and Thailand’s Pramote Pumurai the bronze.

Rosie Villarito also finished fourth in the discus throw.