Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Davao City bags 7 golds By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
CITY OF MATI, Davao Oriental -- Melvin Herana opened Davao City's title-retention campaign on a fiery note, winning the first gold medal at stake in the Davao Regional Athletic Association (Davraa) Meet 2008 at the Mati Centennial Sports Complex here Monday.
The 12-year-old wonder from Marahan West Elementary School captured the boy's elementary shot and put gold to spark Davao City's total harvest of seven golds, two silvers and two bronze medals as of 2 p.m. Monday.
Herana, son of Rolito and Leah, heaved the iron ball to a distance of 9.83 meters beating his teammate Lordwin Vincent Almencion who settled for silver.
The latter was Herana's tormentor during the citywide eliminations.
"Nag-second lang man ko kay Lordwin (Almencion) sa DCAA Meet pero napildi nako siya run. Lipay ko kaayo nga nidaug ko ug gold kay first time nako diri sa Davraa (I was just second to him during the DCAA Meet but I beat him this time.
I'm so happy that I won the gold because it's my first time in the regional meet)," Herana said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao.
Herana said he was also elated that the announcer called him as having won the gold.
"Nalipay ko pagtawag sa akong pangalan. Gihimo lang gyud nako tanan, gihatag nako tanang kusog para layo akong paglabay. Grabe pud akong ampo maski wala pako nidula (I'm so happy when my name was called. I did my best and gave it all to throw the ball the farthest I could muster. I also kept on praying even before the finals began)," Herana said.
Davao's elementary boys athletics team added another gold courtesy of 12-year-old Justine Ray Lozada of Buhisan Elementary School in Bunawan. Lozada leapt to a record of 1.35 meters in ruling the high jump.
"I'm so happy to win the gold and get the chance to play in Palawan where the Palarong Pambansa will be held. All my hardwork paid off," Lozada said.
Charlaine Ann Princess Cuizon of T.V. Fernandez Elementary School in Buhangin and Lloyd Busiguen of T.V. Fernandez National High School along with Emar Learning Center's Dianna Mariss Ba, Estrella Dawang and Michelle Saraga also shared the limelight.
Cuizon offered her high jump gold to her scchool and family who, she said, inspired her to give her best in her first-ever Davraa Meet.
"This is my first time in Davraa and this is my only event. Winning the gold really makes me happy," Cuizon said.
Busiguen copped the secondary boys 110m hurdles while Ba clinched the secondary girls 100m hurdles. Estrella and Saraga pocketed the secondary girls shot put and high jump golds.
Estrella, 17, who hails from Malita, said she is looking forward to win the gold in two more throwing events--the discus and javelin.
