Juico confident of 8-gold haul in SEA Games

MANILA, Philippines - With Fil-Am thrower Caleb Stuart as spearhead, the track and field team is eyeing an eight gold medal haul in the 38th Southeast Asian Games slated in June in Singapore.

“I believe our best performance in athletics in the SEA Games was about 30 years ago in Manila,” said athletics chief Philip Ella Juico, referring to the Filipinos’ 12-gold haul in the 1995 Manila SEAG.

“I’m optimistic we can win eight gold medals in Singapore and we have five or six events where we have a 50-50 chance of also winning,” he added during yesterday PSA Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

Juico didn’t actually include the two gold medals Stuart is tipped to collect in the biennial meet.

Stuart, a massive 6-2, 250-pound 22-year-old former University of California-Riverside standout, is expected to win the hammer throw and shot put golds given his personal best, which are better than the current SEAG records.

In fact, Stuart, who was accompanied by American father John and Filipina mother Rowena Pineda-Stewart in the public service weekly forum, is coming off a spectacular effort in the Ben Brown meet in Los Angeles where he posted a 68.66m heave in hammer throw that bested the SEAG mark by over six meters.

Stuart, a Phl passport holder, did not only better his personal best of 67.24m throw but also the current SEAG record of 62.23 by Thai Tantiphong Petchaiya and the Phl mark of 61.69 by Arniel Ferrera.

In shot put, Stuart owns a personal best of 17.88, which is also better than the current SEAG best of 17.64m owned by another Thai Thawin Khachin and the national record of 16.74m by Eleazer Sunang.

Come June, Stuart is only expected to get better and stronger.

“I hope to win two golds,” said the soft-spoken Stuart, who also seeks to meet the Olympic hammer throw standard set at 70m before the year ends.

Stuart hopes to flaunt his throwing skills in the National Open which gets going tomorrow in Sta. Cruz, Laguna where he will represent the Phl Air Force.

“We at the PATAFA are excited to have a world-class talent in our SEAG team,” said Juico of Stuart.

The Fil-Am is seeking to become the most dominant thrower to represent the country since Fil-Mexican Josephine dela Vina captured the gold in the 1966 Asian Games and Asian Championship before placing 11th in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.