THE record brokers stole the show in the second day of the 2018 Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals penultimate that saw the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles taking the lead in the partial tally yesterday.
SHS-AdC got 41.67 championship points to sit on top on the elementary division and 43 points to gain control in the secondary class.
The overall standing, however, is expected to have a major movement as only the results from gymnastics, swimming, taekwondo, tennis were counted as of 7:30 p.m. yesterday.
While the SHS-AdC captured the team moment, it was the visiting swimmers and Cebuano trackster that got the individual glory after they set records .
Cebuano Martchan Torregosa became the first runner to clock under 1-minute in the boys’ secondary 400-meter hurdles in this event. The 16-year-old from University of Cebu (UC) timed 57.34 seconds to win the gold medal and set a new record, erasing a decade-old mark of Alvin Burgador at 1:00.
According to the track and field statisticians, Burgador’s previous record was set in 2006.
Torregosa told SunStar Cebu that breaking the record was a surprise to him as he just recovered from a hamstring injury that hounded him during the Philippine National Games (PNG) last summer.
“When I got injured I just did not lose hope. I believe that I can recover,” said the event’s reigning Most Outstanding Athlete who already won gold medals in 400m hurdles, 400m dash, 200m dash and 4x100m relay.
Arturo Ocaña of Negros Oriental and Jayford Maranga of UC placed second and third in the 400m hurdles with times of 1:00.93 and 1:05.41, respectively.
It was record-breaking spree over the pool as visiting swimmers Reagan Joseph Garbanzos of St. Scholastica’s Academy in Bacolod and Alexi Kouzenye Cabayaran of Mambulac Elementary School in Negros Occidental set new records in the elementary level.
Cabayaran won a total of nine gold medals and set four new records in the girls’ division.
The new records she set were in 400m freestyle, clocking 5:06.45 to erase record of Marielle Estreba of 5:18.53 in 2016. She also timed 1:10.51 in the 100m butterfly to erase the record of Raven Faith Alcoseba in 2014 at 1:15.46 ; 2:227:34 in the 200m free to erase Alcoseba’s record of 2:27.73; and 1:104:48 in the 100m free to erase Kyla Soguilon’s 2016 record of 1:06:00.
She also won gold medals in the 100m backstroke, 200-meter individual medley, 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly.
Garbanzos, on the other hand, set new records in boys’ freestyle 100m, 400m, 200m and 800m.
He clocked 56:56 in 100m to erase Johann Tubesa’s record of 56:65; 4:27.48 in the 400m to surpass Andrew Kim Remolino’s 4:38.97 in 2016; 2:06.24 in the 200m to beat Yuan Chiongbian’s 2016 record of 2:018.19; and 9:21.66 in the 800m to erase Jose Marie Ereneta’s 2013 record of 9:48.96.
In volleyball, the Bacolod Tay Tung High School asserted their mastery over the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), 26-24, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23, to win the girls’ volleyball secondary crown at the SHS-AdC in Mandaue City.
This was the third time that both schools clashed for the title in the Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals and Tay Tung High School has prevailed on all three meetings.
Tay Tung High School started the first set strong but USJ-R tied it to 22-all before the former secured a narrow 26-24 first set win. The Bacolod volleybelles cruised in the second set to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
USJ-R took third set but Tay Tung High School took over on the final set led by ace player Alyssa Bertolana en route to championship.
In secondary basketball, the defending champion Tay Tung High School will face the SHS-AdC in the championship match today at the SHS-AdC gym in Canduman, Mandaue City.
Tay Tung High School beat the Sisters of Mary School Boystown, 82-76, while SHS-AdC defeated University of San Carlos Basic Education Department, 64-51, in the semis yesterday.
Tay Tung will also play in the elementary division finals against St. John Institute of Bacolod.
Ricky Balleteros, the event’s head organizer, said that it will be an exciting and close finish when the other results will be tabulated. The championship matches in basketball, volleyball and football will also be played.
With the use of point system, the remaining ball games are crucial for every school as a gold medal is equivalent to 25 general championship points.
Behind SHS-AdC in the secondary division are many-time champion University of Cebu (UC) with 42 general championship points and New Ormoc City National High School with 40.
In the elementary division, at running second place is University of St. La Salle-Bacolod with 35 points followed by UC and Mambulac Elementary School with 30 points each.