Golden Double Stuart rules hammer throw, shot put

STA. CRUZ, Laguna, Philippines ­– Fil-Am thrower Caleb Stuart delivered as promised, winning two gold medals in the National Open-Invitational Athletics Championships at the Laguna Sports Complex here yesterday and formalizing his spot in the national team bound for the Singapore SEA Games.

The 6-2, 250-lb Stuart heaved 64.81 meters in his fourth attempt to take the hammer throw gold although he was a bit disappointed failing to better the impressive 68.66m mark he posted in a Los Angeles meet last week.

“When I threw that 68.66m, I was with my coach (Shaun McGinney),” said Stuart. “But today I had to figure out everything myself.”

He did get some help from Arniel Ferrera, owner of the former national mark of 61.69m who made a throw once to just 29.65m and withdrew after complaining of back problems. He later decided to give pointers to Stuart.

“He (Ferrera) helped me a lot here,” said Stuart, who beat Jackie Wong Siew Cheer of Malaysia, who had 63.71m.

Earlier, Stuart took the shot put gold with a 16.52m throw, beating 2013 Myanmar Southeast Asian Games bronze medal winner Adi Aliffudin Hussein of Malaysia and national record holder Eliezer Sunang.

Hussein threw 16.21m and took the silver, while Sunang settled for bronze with a 16.05m throw.

Like in hammer throw, Stuart failed to even get close to his personal best of 17.88m in shot put which is far better than the current SEAG mark of 17.64m set by Thai Thawin Khachin and the national record of 16.74m by Sunang. 

“I’m happy I won but I’m a little bit disappointed to surpass my personal best due to some technique problems during the competition,” said Stuart.

He is set to see action in discus throw on Sunday, not necessarily to win but give Philippine Air Force, where he is a member, some points for the overall competition.

Air Force’s Mary Grace delos Santos, meanwhile, won the four-day meet’s first ever gold in women’s 10,000m with a clocking of 38 minutes, 5.83 seconds, beating Army’s Jho-An Banayag and Janice Tawagin, who timed 39:34.65 and 40:39.56 for silver and bronze, respectively.

Singaporean Michelle Sing took the high jump gold in 1.84m, foiling veteran Army woman Narcisa Atienza (1.75m) and Air Force’s Charie Bajuyo (1.50m).

University of Santo Tomas’ Aira Teodisia heaved a 38.59m to run away with the junior discus throw gold with Caloocan’s Daniella Daynata (31.81) and TMS Ship Agencies’ Angeli Ann Din (29.79m) taking the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Brandon Thomas, another Fil-Am hoping to make an impact and land a spot in the national team, posted the fastest time in the 100m heats – 10.76 seconds or just a few seconds off his best time of 10.56 he registered two years ago.

Sabah, Malaysia’s Eddie Edward Jr. timed in 10.96 and Housing Sector’s Noli Torres had 10.97 for second and third, respectively.

“I’m hoping to improve on my time even further and maybe get me a spot in the Philippine team,” said Thomas, a Texas State University mainstay who tried his luck here upon the advice of Southeast Asian Games gold medallist Eric Cray.

Meanwhile, Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico and host Laguna Gov. Ramil Hernandez declared the meet officially open in simple rites yesterday.

“Our hope is to use this event not only to test our national athletes’ readiness for the SEA Games but also to discover some fresh talents that we could hopefully hone into future national team members,” said Juico.

The event is organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association and Philippine Sports Commission and backed by Laguna Water, Pacific Online Scratch It KaskaSwerte, Papa John’s Pizza, Foton Philippines, PCSO, Smart, PLDT, Summit Natural Drinking Water and supported by SSS, Pagcor, Milo, Gatorade, L Time Studio and Asics Watch.