FOUR Baguio athletes went home with seven gold medals each as the top medal earner of Baguio City in the recently concluded Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (Caraa) sports meet last week held in Apayao.
Leading the seven gold medals earners are swimmer Luis Balagtey, arnisador Hannah Walang, archer Ruben Davis Supena and swimmer Maenard Batnag.
Balagtey lorded the elementary boys swimming competition bagging gold medals in 100 meter backstroke, 100 meter freestyle, 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter medley relay, 200 meter free style, 200 meter free style relay and 400 meter free style while bringing home a silver in the 50 meter back stroke event.
Walang meanwhile was a force to reckon with in the elementary girls arnis, winning the gold medal in the Anyo Individual Single Weapon, Anyo Individual Double Identical Weapon, Team Single Weapon
Team Double Weapon, Sword & Dagger (Individual), Sword & Dagger (Team), and Mixed Double Weapon.
Supena was the top archer in the secondary division after bringing home gold medals in the 30, 50, 60, 70 meters event, 1440 round, team, and mixed team match while Batnag fished the medals in 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter medley relay, 200 meter butterfly, 200 meter free style, 200 meter individual medley, 200 meter freestyle relay, 400 meter freestyle relay.
Other top gold medal earners in the elementary division are Juliana Megara Conlu who had six golds she earned in 50 meter butterfly, 50 meter backstroke, 100 meter backstroke, 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter medley relay, and 400 meter medley relay while Justin Martie Apilas had five gold in arnis.
In the secondary division, archer Charmaine Angela Villamor and arnisador Angelyn Datuin took home five gold medals each while swimmers Eunice Ulat and Kylie Veronica Versoza took home four golds a piece.
Although 17 gold medals short of its haul last year, Baguio City took home 205 gold medals, 110 silvers and 79 bronze, and still managed to retain the crown in the annual regional meet which closed March 3 at the Apayao Sport and Eco-Tourism Center in Payanan, Luna in Apayao province.
Host province Apayao was the biggest winner in the competition, jumping from fifth last year to second place after grabbing 69-76-79.
Apayao banked on the 25 golds harvested in rhythmic and aero gymnastics of the 41 copped in the elementary level while the high school squad was able to take home 28 golds.
Abra also improved to third place after a fourth place finish last year with its 39-48-88 medal harvest with five of the 18 gold medals in the elementary level coming from swimming while the high school division had 22 with five coming from athletics.
Benguet, the perennial runner-up, slid to fourth place mustering on 35 golds, 66 silvers, and 83 bronze medals.
Ifugao also dropped to fifth place with 27-48-70 even as Mountain Province improved to sixth place after snatching 16-25-44 while newcomer Tabuk City had 12-29-37 even as Kalinga managed to earn 6-6-20 for an eighth place finish.