Talks about the end of University of Cebu’s dominance of the Milo Little Olympics Regional Finals proved wild and baseless.
This after the gritty challenge put up by Ilo-ilo National High School which led in the first two days of competition finally ended yesterday at the close of track and field competitions, the only event it is entering in the meet’s 17th edition.
After three full days of torrid competition, UC found itself in familiar territory – at the top of the heap.
The Webmasters wrested the lead in the points standings with 90 points. UC and Ilo-ilo NHS finished the track and field events with 50 points each. UC’s boys team got 30 points while its girls squad had 20. Ilo-ilo NHS has 30 points in the girls division and 20 from its boys team.
Ilo-ilo NHS’ track stars neutralized UC’s expected rule in the event by harvesting 12 gold medals, including three yesterday in the 4×400-meter secondary girls relay, 400m secondary boys by John Ganaba and secondary girls triple jump by Pia Angelica Barcimo.
“We are looking forward to joining next year’s competition and we are very happy that we are now included in team Visayas’ line-up for the national finals,” said some Ilo-ilo NHS athletes.
Ilo-ilo NHS is in temporary second place with 57 points. It also collected seven points from its secondary girls taekwondo team. It’s football team was beaten by defending national champion Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC), 3-0 last Sunday.
UC also earned 25 points in table tennis after its boys and girls teams tallied 15 and 10 points respectively. It also got 15 points after its secondary girls taekwondo squad topped the event.
UC is now pinning its title hopes on its badminton and chess teams. The upcoming swimming event is expected to be dominated by University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department (USC-BED) and University of Bohol (UB).
Last year’s third placer USC-BED is in third spot with 54.3 points. Its secondary boys taekwondo team tallied 15 points while its netters got 25 with a gold and silver finish by its boys and girls teams, respectively. USC also earned 10 points in track and field while its sepak takraw team got 3.25 points.
Abellana National School which finished second last year, is currently in the fourth spot with 35.8 points. ANS’ sepak takraw team retained its title after defeating Catmon Integrated School worth 15 points. It also earned a combined 16.40 points from table tennis, taekwondo, lawn tennis and scrabble.
USC-BED SHOWS WAY
Meanwhile, two-time elementary defending champion USC-BED leads with 58.25 points. It earned 30 points in athletics while its boys tennis team topped the competition worth 15 points. It also got 10.35 points from girls athletics, girls badminton, table tennis and girls lawn tennis.
Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) is in second spot with 36.27 points after its elementary tracksters hauled 32 points while its table tennis and taekwondo squads got 4.27.
Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) has 32.5 points after getting 30 points from its tracksters and 2.5 points from its table tennis squad.
Meanwhile, Coach Eddie Estoconing’s Banilad Elementary School-Mandaue badminton team successfully defended its three-year reign in the elementary competition which pushed them to fourth place with 30 points, 15 each from its boys and girls teams.
Meanwhile, upsets rocked the scrabble and sipa events after two defending national champions, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and Catmon Central School Sipa Team lost to unheralded foes in the final.
USJ-R’s elementary and secondary word wizards lost to University of Visayas (UV) while Catmon’s sipa team was beaten by Inayawan Elementary School.
The Severo Duterte Memorial Elementary School of Danao City, on the other hand, topped elementary girls table tennis while the Beatriz Durano Memorial National High School ruled the secondary girls table tennis beating defending champion UC. The Cebu City Central School won the gold in elementary boys table tennis.
RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
In rhythmic gymnastics, UV’s Marianne Alegado earned three gold medals after topping the rope, hoop and ball routines while Eunice Odag got two gold medals in the rope and ball for UV high school. UV’s Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) got the team gold medal yesterday.
DBTC will battle SHS-AdC in the finals of secondary football while PAREF Springdale finished third after defeating powerhouse ANS,1-0.
The medal-rich swimming event will kick off this Saturday at the CCSC.