UC, USC remain on top in Cebu City Olympics

CEBU, Philippines – Bemedalled Cebuano tanker Michael Ichiro Kong stretched his gold medal haul to five, four of which in record-breaking fashion, to help the University of Cebu pad its lead in the secondary battle, while the University of San Carlos firmed up its grip of the elementary division lead after Day 2 of the 24th Cebu City Olympics mainly at the Cebu City Sports Center yesterday.

After setting new marks in the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly, Kong sustained his sizzling performance at the pool to reset two more records at the close of the medal-rich swimming competition.

Kong clocked in two minutes and 23.84 seconds in the secondary boys 200m backstroke to shatter the 14-year-old record of 2:28.99 posted by Ruben Suerte in 1997. He then surpassed the 1:02.64-record of Andrei  Ynclino in 2003 in the 100m butterfly with the time of 1:02.41.

Aside from Kong, Karen Mae Indaya also added three golds for UC in the 800m freestyle, 200m backstroke, and 200 freestyle. They also won gilt in the 400m freestyle relay.

Indaya's younger brother Jobert handed over two golds for UC in the elementary level through the 100m butterfly and the 100m breaststroke events.

In athletics, UC reaped golds through long jumper John Marvin Rafols and Camylle Masota in the 200m run.

As expected, the Webmasters scored a clean sweep in table tennis with Diana Oliverio grabbing the gold.

The rest of UC’s medal harvest came from arnis with 13 golds, 19 silvers and 16 bronzes, the individual golds of which came from featherweight Luke Galon with three, bantam Winston Quinanola and lightweight Gilebrt Cavan Jo with one each, Kimberly Bonsubre with two, and Angelie Tamayo with one.

In the unofficial medal count, UC now stands with 34 golds, 19 silvers and 16 bronzes followed by USC with a 22-11-21 gold-silver-bronze tally. The University of the Visayas zoomed to third place with five golds, six silvers, and one bronze, thanks to its ever reliable gymnasts.

USC though stayed on top of the elementary leaderboard with 23 golds, 21 silvers and 11 bronzes. UV is a distant second with 8-4-1 followed by Unit 1 with a seven golds, six silvers, and 14 bronzes.

USC fished out six more golds at the pool, three of which were donated by Caroline Doloricon from the 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and 50m freestyle. Christian Canga had a golden double in the 400m freestyle and 50m backstroke, even as the young Carolinians also topped the boys 400m freestyle relay.

USC's secondary swimmer Kirk Ebon, on the other hand, had a record-establishing performance in the 800m freestyle with the time of 10:342.72. He erased the 2009 mark of 11:14.39 registered by Edgar Jarina.

Maria Montessori International School (MMIS) stole part of the swimming show with a new meet record in the 200m freestyle relay. MMIS clocked 1:56.47 to erase the old mark of 2:12.28 set by Unit 5 in 2009.

In athletics, USC minted three more golds courtesy of Chloe Piza in the 400m hurdles, and Karl Urbano and Mary Joy Loberanis in the 800m run. (FREEMAN)