Niños seal 19th title

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

TAGBILARAN CITY—As expected, Cebu City won an unprecedented 19th straight title in the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) with 836.17 points, beating Cebu Province (507.75) again.

One of the biggest surprises of the meet was Mandaue City, which not only lifted itself from fourth place to third but also provided one of the most exciting finishes in the meet courtesy of its basketball team, which defeated Cebu City, 67-65.

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“Mandaue City is a team to watch out for,” said Resource Mobilization Special Projects and Programs division Assistant Chief Danilo Villadolid.
Villadolid said having the support of the private schools has helped Mandaue a lot in the Cviraa.

“While we always have Labangon and other public schools to help out in athletics, archery and other sports, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu is helping the team in its campaign,” said Villadolid, adding that Ateneo, which has complete facilities and a strong athletics program, has boosted Mandaue City’s campaign.

SHS-AdC athletic director Rico Navarro said Ateneo is not trying to get all the credit since Team Mandaue is a mix of students from all over the city.

“We are a combination of athletes although they all trained and competed in Ateneo, especially the track and field team,” said Navarro.
To underscore Mandaue City’s competitiveness, its basketball team battled Cebu City to a down-the-wire final.

Apparently, five grueling games in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. final were not enough to settle the score so Mandaue, powered by Sacred Heart, and Cebu City, manned by UV and some CEC players, brought their brewing rivalry over to the shores of Bohol.

The change of venue was all the Eagles needed to alter their fate with a 67-65 payback for the secondary boys’ basketball title.

“We just played our hearts out. The boys did not give up and I am very proud of them,” said coach Rommel Rasmo.

Cebu City dictated the game’s tempo the whole time and it was only in the fourth period when Mandaue took over the lead. However, Cebu City never gave up and tied the game at 65 in the last 10 seconds. A costly foul by Alfred Sedillo in the final six seconds sent Henry Asilum to the charity line and he padded Mandaue’s lead.

King delos Santos of Cebu City drove through the basket but he missed the target just as the final buzzer sounded.
Navarro added that having strong teams in the ball games also helped.

Cebu City continued to lord it over in the regional meet with its elementary team winning taekwondo, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, arnis and softball girls and its secondary team dominating swimming, chess, gymnastics, tennis, badminton, girls taekwondo, arnis, softball and athletics.

The other teams scrambled for scraps.

Meanwhile, gymnast Karen Sthea Velez was one of the big winners in the competition after almost sweeping all of her events in the RSG competitions.

Velez and teammate Tracy Badonio actually blanked event favorite and Palarong Pambansa champion Carmelli Garovillo of Cebu Province.
Velez topped the rope, hoop, all-around and team events. However, she almost botched her routine in the ribbon after a technical difficulty.

“I was a bit confident going into that routine but then the music suddenly stopped and it ruined my concentration and ultimately my routine,” said Velez.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City elementary basketball team prevailed, 76-48, over Mandaue.

The winners in the Cviraa will form the core that will represent the region in the Palarong Pambansa, which will be held in Lingayen, Pangasinan next summer.