LUNA, Apayao -- A seventeen-year-old boy from Pinukpuk town set a new record in shot put in the ongoing Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association.
Paul Nikko Dalowog hurled the iron ball at 12.31 meters en route to winning the gold in the 2-19 edition of the regional sports at the Apayao Sports and Eco-Tourism Complex in Luna.
Aside from winning the gold medal, Dalowog also bagged the bronze in discus throw.
Meanwhile, Baguio City tankers amassed 20 gold medals to dominate the swimming competition.
At the helm of the gold medal haul is Juleana Megara Conlu who led the charge for the summer capital swimmers, winning three gold medals while Maenard Batnag and Luis Balagtey both secured two golds each.
Conlu got the gold in the elementary girls 6-12 years old 200 meter individual medley category, 100 meter backstroke category and the 50 meter butterfly category.
Balagtey on the other hand earned his double gold in the elementary boys 6-12 years old 100 meter backstroke category, 200 meter freestyle.
In the secondary division, Batnag gained his double gold in the boys 13-16 years old 200 meter butterfly category and the 200 meter individual medley category.
As of 4 p.m. of March 2 (Saturday), Baguio City still holds the top spot with 160 gold medals, including 80 silvers and 54 bronze medals going into the penultimate day on Sunday.
Aside from the 21 gold medals from swimming, the city bets in the elementary division also copped 12 gold medals in arnis and five in athletics while the high school squad had 24 in swimming, 18 in arnis, 12 golds in both archery and taekwondo, and 10 in athletics.
Host Apayao stayed strong at second place with 46 - 49 - 46 medal haul while Abra moved up to third place having 25 - 32 - 67 as Benguet slid to fourth place after bagging 18 - 47 58.
Running fifth is Ifugao province with 12 gold medals, 28 silvers and 47 bronze while Tabuk City has nine golds, 21 silvers and 16 bronze to remain at sixth place.
At seventh is Mountain Province with 8-16 - 21 as Kalinga remains at the bottom with 4 - 3 - 10.