Milo Little Olympics: The FREEMAN wins in photo, writing tilts

CEBU, Philippines - The FREEMAN Sports bagged the top spot in the photo contest and second place in the sportswriting competition of the 20th Milo Little Olympics-Visayas held in Iloilo City recently.

Reynan Villena won first prize in the photo contest while Catherine Grace “Caecent” No-ot Magsumbol was second place in sportswriting.

Villena took the top plum for his entry featuring athletes competing in the 5,000-meter run.

Magsumbol, on the other hand, was awarded for her article “Golden double for Loberanis,” which is a write-up on Mary Joy “MJ” Loberanis who debuted in the secondary division with a double gold at the start of the athletics competition.

The story narrated how fire gutted MJ’s house in April 2013, destroying all her precious gold medals and her parents’ trophy vault.

MJ vowed to her father Arvin, who is also their University of San Carlos coach, that she would work hard to earn medals again to replace what she lost during that unfortunate event.

True to her words, MJ snared three golds during the Visayas leg and a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the national finals in Marikina in 2013. That was her last stint in the elementary level.

Now in Grade 7, the 13-year-old MJ had no high expectations for herself when she joined the Milo Little Olympics-Visayas this year, knowing that she was up against older and more seasoned opponents in the secondary level.

Loberanis, however, powered her way to a golden finish in the 3,000-meter run, and snared her second gold in a come-from-behind fashion in the 800-m run.

For their feats, Villena and Magsumbol got P7,500 and P5,000 in cash prizes, respectively.  — (FREEMAN)