Monday, November 19, 2007 Girl power By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter with Norvie S. Misa
MARY Carmelli Garrovillo’s and Kysia Candia’s spectacular performances in the second day of the 17th Cebu City Olympics enabled Central District-Unit 2 to steal the thunder in the Elementary Division at the Cebu City Sports Center yesterday.
Kiddies Learning Center’s Garrovillo and Candia of City Central School hauled golds in gymnastics and swimming and helped Unit II to overtake Day 1 leader Unit V at the top of the rankings.
Garovillo scorched hot in the rhythmic sportive gymnastics, winning five golds from the ball, hoop, ribbon and rope events and the all-around competition in the elementary division.
Candia, on the other hand, wrapped up her five-gold medal run with three golds yesterday in the 200m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle at the CCSC pools.
Candia actually tied University of Cebu’s Trina Cañeda, who also had five golds in the elementary swimming.
The three other golds for Unit 2 yesterday were won at the track in the 800m run, 400m hurdles and long jump events.
From fourth place in the first day, Unit 2 is now on top with 16 golds, 13 silvers and 10 bronzes. First day leader Unit 5, which had a slow second day, is not far behind with a 16-8-10 medal haul.
Meanwhile, with the continued dominance of its swimmers and tracksters, nothing is stopping University of Cebu’s rampage in the secondary and tertiary divisions.
Yesterday, Unit 9, manned mainly by UC athletes, pulled away at the standings with 33 -17-5, after a 16-10 -2 production in the second day.
UC’s secondary division swimmers led the way for Unit 9 as they won the over-all title of the boys’ class.
Most productive
Yesterday, Jeffrey Yana was the most productive UC tanker as he won the 200m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and, with Carlo and Paolo Bagano and Noel Cañeda, won the 200m freestyle relay. Paula Vega won the 200m backstroke in the distaff side.
UC’s table tennis team also contributed to Unit 9’s gold medal haul. Jennifer Jacalan and Jhinno Selma won the titles in the girls and boys singles contest. May Angeli Motel and Girly Apas won the girls doubles, while Geoffrey Apas and John Paul Ba-ay won the boys doubles title.
Eight golds were also won at the tracks courtesy of Jee Ann Racoma in the 400m run, Sheena Gacayan in the 800m, Irin Baluran and Dharl Pitogo in the long jump, Jasper Basister in the discus throw. Unit IX also won in the discus, boys 800m run, 400m hurdles and women’s discus throw.
In the tertiary division, UC is confidently on top with 24 gold medals, while Southwestern University is at second with a total of 10 golds, while CSCST is at third with seven gold medals.
UC fished only eight golds in the collegiate division yesterday, compared to the 16 on the first day.
Five golds
While UC laid low in athletics, it was SWU’s turn to shine and took the second spot after winning three events in athletics and five in swimming.
Winning the gold for SWU in athletics were Denice Barte and Mariela Alindahao in discus throw and Marvin Cabaluna in the 400m hurdles.
Swimmer Rita Marcon collected four of SWU’s five golds as she topped the 200m freestyle, 200 m backstroke, 100 m freestyle and 50 m freestyle.
In Archery, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and the Don Carlos A. Gothong Memorial National High School paced the tournament in the women and men’s divisions with 3-2-4 and 4-4-2, respectively, while the Cebu City National Science High School (CCNSHS) took the third spot in both divisions.
USJ-R’s Elka Shaneen Durango took the overall category with 351 points after taking a gold in the 50meters, silver in the Olympic round and bronze in the 30.
Silver Miah Lisondra lived up to her name as she took a silver in the overall category with 325, while Mercy Valenzona took the bronze with 313 points.
It was an all-Gothong show in the men’s contest as George Mejias took the 50m, 30m, Olympic round and overall golds, with teammate Klent Abistado finishing second in all categories. CCNSHS’ William Yasi took three bronzes in the 30m, overall and Olympic round, while Vincent Michael Bandolan added a bronze medal for the Gothong.
Meanwhile in Arnis, though UC dominated the event in the collegiate division it won’t be added in their tally as only the high school boys division are counted. The event is a demonstration sport in the collegiate, elementary and high school girls divisions.
Palarong Pambansa silver medalist Joshua Paracueles and Steven Sean Quiñanola, both of UC, dished out another gold and silver medal, respectively in the open marathon strikers yesterday, while Juliejhar Barril took the bronze for the Ramon Duterte Memorial National High School.
In Chess, Unit 11 emerged on top of the final team standing for secondary boys while Unit 7 took the silver and Unit 9 settled for the bronze.
ANS’ King James Torres took the gold in Board 1, while Yuri Caliba and Camilo Benabente won the silver and bronze.
In the girls contest, Unit 9 won the team gold with Unit 11 and Unit 7 taking the silver and bronze.
In Board 1, Jacel Bucog took the gold for Unit 9, with Jessa Balbona and Mariogld Mhie Panilag taking the next two spots.
In the elementary division, Unit 4 took the gold, while Unit 5 settled for the silver.
Jhoronnie Gayl Bontes (Unit 4), Hazel Bancog (Unit 5), Jolina Claire Colinares (Unit 7) took the top three spots in Board 1, while Cheryl Angot (Unit 4), Ira Forosuello (Unit 3) and Alvie Amar (Unit 1) took the top three spots in Board 2.
In scrabble UV Main bagged the gold with 27 points in the 10 rounds in the high school contest, finishing just four points ahead of CIT. UP settled for the bronze with 19.
In the elementary division, USJR got the gold with 31.
Special awards will be given to Sarah Samson (UV-main) for the highest single move (107 points), while CIT’s Kendrick Mendiola will also be awarded for the highest single game (558 points) in the high school division.
