IT was a smashing first weekend in the 15th Milo Little Olympics as seven records fell and a team that was not on top of anyone’s list—the University of San Carlos Basic Education (USC-BED)—pulled off the biggest surprise at the Cebu City Sports Center.
In an unexpected turn of events, the favored teams took the backseat in the first weekend to give way to the USC BED, which found itself on top of the overall championship tally of the secondary and elementary divisions.
In the high school level, the USC BED posted 55 points, upstaging the 14-time champions University of Cebu, which is sharing the second place with Silliman University with 40 points.
USC got the most of its points in the swimming and taekwondo competitions, which wrapped up yesterday.
Organizer Ricky Ballesteros said with the performance shown by USC, they are most likely the one to give UC the biggest threat all these 15 years.
“USC is posing a serious threat not just to UC but to last year’s runner-up, Abellana National School,” said Ballesteros.
The athletics event, which is UC’s bailiwick, is not finished and athletic director Bernard Ricablanca said the standings will most likely be shaken once it and the other events will be included in the overall championship points.
Pressure
UC athletics head coach Babeth Capampangan, on the other hand, feels the pressure on them.
“Nanlimbawt na ug sugod among balahibo. Maka feel lang ta sa pressure nga ang athletics ang gisaligan para makadaog ang UC,” said Capampangan.
UC is also expected to top badminton and table tennis, while ANS is expected to make its presence felt next weekend as well.
The USC BED elementary team, on the other hand, made a huge killing as it posted 55 points courtesy of its taekwondo and swimming teams. Last year, Sacred Heart School-Jesuit Ateneo de Cebu won the elementary division title after earning 58.5 points in two weekends.
“USC BED has been very surprising this year. I think it is because you can really see the support that the administration and the parents give to their teams,” said Ballesteros.
“Just judging from the points they made this weekend, I can say the team (elementary division) stands a good chance of winning this year.”
Silliman University is second with 30 points, while West City Elementary School of Dumaguete is third with 25 points. Last year’s champion is at a distant 11th place.
Meanwhile, underscoring the intense competition, the record Ara Denis Echavez set in the 100meter breastroke last year, was broken four times.
Although the title eventually went to Silliman’s Yona Academia, who eclipsed Echavez’s time 1:31.40 with 1:28.15--three other swimmers posted times that broke Echavez’s. They were Lorens Goyenechea of the Universtiy of San Jose Recoletos, Echavez and Danielle Ballesteors of UC.
The UC girls swim team broke the medley relay record made by another UC team last year, while the West City squad broke the 200m freestyle relay in the elementary boys division set by University o Bohol last year.
Also posting new marks were Dumaguete Science High School’s John Paul Bayona in the secondary boys 100m breaststroke record and Kirk Ebon in the 100m freestyle event of the elementary boys division.
Hurdler Roy Villahermosa won his second gold medal yesterday after in the 400meter low hurdles. Villahermosa started the event in high spirits after posting the best time in the heats last Saturday, breaking a record set by Carlo Alipio eight years ago.
USC’s lead was also boosted by its secondary girls taekwondo team. Thse who won the gold for USC were Charise Panaginip in the lightweight and welterweight divisions, Kayla Meldad in heavyweight and Bryan Fernandez in bantamweight.