Thursday, October 02, 2008 WNU Mustangs Olarte, Vergara drafted by Hapee in PBL By Henry C. Villalva
FORMER West Negros University Mustangs Ely Olarte and Vengie Vergara were drafted in the 4th and 5th rounds, respectively, by Hapee Toothpaste in last Tuesday’s annual PBL rookie draft in Manila.
This was confirmed Wednesday by WNU Committee on Sports Management and Development chairman Anthony Carlo Agustin.
Olarte and Vergara will thus have the opportunity to play alongside their former Mustangs teammate Severino “Nonoy” Baclao when the new Philippine basketball League (PBL) season opens since the core of the Hapee team will be composed of the Ateneo University Blue Eagles squad which recently topped the 71st UAAP men’s basketball competition by beating arch rival la Salle in the finals.
Baclao was the UAAP finals’ Most Valuable Player.
Olarte, Vergara and Baclao were vital cogs of the West Negros University Mustangs lineup that captured the 2005 National University Games (Unigames) title and the 2006 Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) National Students Championship (inter-collegiate).
All three were also standouts of the Monico Cup Inter-Barangay summer basketball tournament where both Olarte and Vergara were MVPs playing for back-to-back Under-19 titlist barangay Estefania.
Meanwhile, Baclao, who is now making hay with the Ateneo Blue Eagles, is a product of the West Negros University’s massive team building and recruitment thrust through the efforts of CSMDO and LNA7 Sports Foundation chairman Agustin.
He was taken in by West Negros University as a 2nd year student from Bata National High School during school year 2001-2002, played for the West Negros College high school team in the NOPSSCEA until 2003-2004, where WNC won the title, and graduated the same year with a 90 grade average.
