Sunday, November 25, 2007 Winner on the arch By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter with Norvie S. Misa & Edri K. Aznar
POWERED by its athletes in track and field, the University of Cebu college team and Unit 9, the unit their secondary team belongs to, will most likely collar the top title in the 17th Cebu City Olympics, which closes today.
Cebu’s godfather of athletics, Dr. Danilo Villadolid said that based on historical facts, UC’s dominance in athletics as of the moment is because it is “on top of the curve.”
“It wasn’t always like that. There was a time when UC was a non-entity, when Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) and Southwestern University (SWU) were the dominant teams in this sport. It is just UC’s time,” Villadolid said.
Villadolid added that other schools should take cue in this normal curve principle and encourage them to start giving UC a tougher challenge.
“I have already seen that athletes from other schools are already starting to put up potential teams. It is yet to be seen though when UC’s plummet in athletics will be,” Villadolid added.
In the bag
For the secondary division alone, UC’s athletes Lindely Navaja, Carl Malazarte and Dharl Pitogo and girl tracksters Sheena Gacayan, Lera dela Calzada, Jee Ann Racoma and Irin Baluran are the top-notch runners in the City Olympics. They are the top athletes with the most individual medals from the tracks.
The win is virtually in the bag for Unit 9 in the secondary division. In the running total of the over-all ranking as of yesterday afternoon, even without athletics, the unit already has 102 points gathered from the medals won and rankings in swimming, badminton, baseball, chess, table tennis and lawn tennis.
The points for athletics, which has more than 60 events, was yet to be added as of press time. Unit 9 harvested more golds from the 100 meter dash, triple jump and 4x100 m relays yesterday.
If these will be added on top of the other winnings from last week, it will bolster the unit’s chances of extending its dominance in the secondary division.
Even without the points for athletics, Unit IX is still holding a comfortable lead over second placer Unit 5, which only has 87 points. Units 7 and 8 are currently neck-to-neck at third place with 85.5 and 85 points, respectively.
Leaders
In the collegiate division, on the other hand, UC’s fat production from athletics, swimming and table tennis was bolstered when Princess Inocando and Raymar Ruiz won the dancesport competition, while its scrabble team also won the title.
This brings UC’s total medal haul to 30-17-10, solidly leading the collegiate division and will not be tipped from the top of the pole going into the final phase of the meet as SWU is at a distant second with 10 golds, 4 silvers and 10 bronzes.
In the elementary division, triumph is also virtually in the bag for Unit 5, as it now has 134 points. Currently taking was Unit 2 with 84 points, while Unit 3 has 65.
In table tennis elementary boys division, Mabolo Elementary School tied with Pardo Elementary School for the gold medal, while Cebu City Central School grabbed the silver medal and Labangon Elementary School won the bronze.
In the elementary girls division, Cebu City Central School took home the gold medal and Zapatera Elementary School won the silver and Labangon won another bronze medal.
Meanwhile, in table tennis secondary boys division Tejero High School took the gold, Guadalupe High School settled for the silver and Mabolo High School got the bronze. In the secondary girls division Tejero High School took home another gold, Pardo High School won the silver and Lahug High School got the bronze.
In football elementary division Paref Sprigdale will face Don Bosco College (DBC) today for the gold medal after overpowering Cebu City Central School 4-0. DBC will have a twice to beat advantage over Paref Springdale. Cebu City Central settled for the bronze medal.
Advantage
In football secondary division Paref Springdale will face Abellana National School (ANS) today for the championship after defeating DBC, 1-0, in a penalty shootout. ANS has a twice-to-beat advantage over Paref Springdale. DBC got the bronze.
In football tertiary division DBC took home the gold after a come-from-behind win over the University of the Philippines (UP) 2-1. Cebu State College of Science and Technology grabbed the bronze medal after a 1-0 loss to UP.
In Lawn Tennis, Cebu’s multi-awarded and top international campaigners reigned supreme in their respective divisions.
One of Cebu’s top netters Jacob Lagman (Unit-5) came on top in the elementary boys-singles to bagged the gold while Ralp Juliane (Unit 7), Carl Nuneza (Unit 6) and Levi Ian Abenoja (Unit 4), took the next three spots, respectively
Justine de la Cerna and Alfred Yaranon, Jr., from Unit 7 bagged the gold medal in the elementary boys-doubles while the duo of Victor Miñoza, Jr., and Jeffrey Brian Ong from Unit 6 took the silver medal.
More winners
In the elementary girls-singles, Mary Claire Lazaga of Unit 6 topped in their division followed by Jeryan Campo from Unit 5 while Unit3’s Raisa Ong and Glory Faith Joy Bohol from Unit 7 both finished in third spots.
The pairing of Rejen Marie Cobarde and Mary Grace Miñoza (Unit 6) captured the gold medal for the elementary girls-doubles; Liza Rose Lopez and Mariah Therese Enriquez of Unit 7 settled for the silver medal.
For the secondary girls-doubles, the tandem of multi-awarded tennis champion Sallydine Siso and Kristel Mae Buenacosa of Unit 6 reign supreme in their division to bagged the gold while the pair of Hanna Grace Espinosa and Mary-Ann Miñoza (Unit 10) came behind Siso and Buenacosa for the silver, while Rosa Marie Gelbolingo and Rowena Capicenio of Unit7, snatched the bronze medal.
In the secondary boys-doubles, another multi-awarded tennis champion John Francis Gil Largo with Larry Antigua took home the gold medal for Unit 10; while Jayvee Canoy and Joseph Tallo (Unit 7); and Christian John Cabahug and Christian Paul Cabahug (Unit 6) wound up in the top 3, respectively.
In the boys-singles, another multi-awarded and international campaigner Bernadine Siso grabbed the gold medal for Unit 6; Cyril Camporedondo and Juniel Espinosa both from Unit 10 contributed silver and bronze medals, respectively while Siso’s teammate Lloyd Cañete also grabbed a bronze medal for Unit 6.
In Scrabble, the University of Cebu composed of Renan Tumulak, Marlon Coniconde, Mark Arfie Lao, Ramil Dimaisip, Jay Anthony Cavales and Nizley Jill Alferez ousted the defending champion Cebu Institute of Technology in the finals in the college division yesterday at the Cebu City Sports Complex while last year’s 2nd runnerup Cebu Normal University finished in third spot.
