TITLE NO. 25
CEBU CITY KEEPS SOARING
The Cebu City Niños are a step closer to their 25th straight title after a superb performance in Day 3 of the 2017 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) at the Teodoro Mendiola Sr. Track and Field Oval yesterday.
The Niños built an insurmountable lead with an unofficial medal haul of 99 gold medals to go along with 53 silvers and 45 bronzes heading to the second to the last day today.
In the unofficial count, the Niños won 22 gold medals in the swimming event, and added 13 gold medals in taekwondo yesterday.
Over the tracks, one of the highlights for the Niños was the diminutive runner Mary Joy Loberanis, who persevered to overcome her tormentor Joan Alinsunod.
After losing to Alinsunod in both the secondary girls’ 1,500 meter and 3,000 events, Loberanis was feeling a bit frustrated but did not lose hope.
She finally got her victory in her final event, the 800m after she clocked 2 minutes 24.59 second to win her first gold medal in the event.
“I was feeling down, especially when I only placed second in the 1,500m and did not make it to the Top 3 in the 3,000m this morning. I just did not lose hope and gave my best in my last event,” said Mary Joy Loberanis, who beat Rosemarie Espana (2:29.41) of Bohol Province and Alinsunod (2:31.55).
Alinsunod won the 3,000m event with a time of 10:59.41 yesterday. She topped the 1,500m last Monday in 5:02.31.
Seth Abraham Pilapi of Cebu City nabbed his second gold medal in the secondary boys’ 200m, clocking 22.88 to beat Enrico Lorenzo Abella (23.59) of Mandaue City and Arjie To-ang (23.60) of Cebu Province.
The other gold medalist were Dwight Galolo (4:27.90) in the boys’ secondary 1,500m, Samantha Gem Limos (25.54) in the girls’ secondary 200m, Quinna Gabrielle Jubay (27.72) of Cebu Province in the elementary girls’ 200m, Heizel Bentalan (5:18) in the elementary girls’ 1,500m and Dario Tomo (2:07.72) of Tagbilaran City in the secondary boys’ 800m.
Karen Mae Andaya of Cebu City made a splash in the pool as she dominated with five individual gold medals. Andaya topped the secondary girls’ 200m individual medley (2:45), 200m freestyle (2:24.75) and 100m butterfly (1:12.16) yesterday. Andaya of University of Cebu (UC) won two gold medals last Monday in the 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke.