After weathering the storm brought about by the Ilo-ilo National High School last weekend, defending champion University of Cebu is facing yet another cyclone of a challenge to its 16-year reign as overall secondary kings of the 17th Milo Little Olympics-Visayas Regional Finals.
And this coming weekend will determine if UC will remain at the top or a new ruler will be crowned with just three of the 12 events still to be competed.
UC is currently leading the secondary general championship points standings with 90 points while last weekend’s second placer, Ilo-ilo NHS dropped to fifth with 60 points.
But with chess, swimming and badminton still left in the calendar, UC needs to deliver the necessary points to thwart the determined challenge of current second placer, the University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department (USC-BED) which is just 12.2 points behind UC with 77.8 points.
USC-BED got an additional 19 points from its gymnasts and volleyball team last weekend.
TORRID WEEKEND
And the challenger is highly favored in the remaining three events with its vaunted swimmers, woodpushers and an improved badminton team determined to give the rookie-laden Webmasters a run for their money.
“I know that this weekend will be very tough for us because we are trying to dethrone UC. We just hope and pray that we will finally claim the overall crown,” said USC-BED athletic director Saturnino Mayormita.
According to Regional Finals organizer Ricky Ballesteros, the spotlight of the upcoming battle royale will be the swimming event, a perennial stronghold of USC-BED. But UC vowed to prevent USC from snatching the overall title through swimming which awards 60 points.
“I am used to being pressured. We are not scared of USC because I know I have a lot of good swimmers. We will just do our best,” said UC swimming coach Lando Alvarez.
Alvarez said that UC’s campaign in the pool will be led by his ace tankers Michael Ichiro Kong, Israel Gabunada and Danielle Mae Ballesteros.
UC will not just contend with USC for swimming supremacy but the vaunted tankers of Bacolod, University of Bohol (UB) and Dumaguete.
“The deciding event will be swimming because USC is also very good in chess and UC is facing Southwestern University (SWU) and USC in the quarterfinals of the badminton event. This will be a thrilling battle for the secondary crown,” said Ballesteros.
Other teams with a huge potential to snatch the high school title are last year’s second placer Abellana National School which is running fourth with 67.3 points and current third placer University of the Visayas (UV) with 70.5 points.
UC’s badminton coach, Dennis Olofernes said that he is worried by SWU and USC’s girls squad which he claims has immensely improved this year. The badminton event stakes 30 points like chess.
IN THE BAG FOR USC-BED
Meanwhile, Mayormita’s elementary team is poised to grab the crown with 70.25 points after closest pursuer UV (61.25 pts) officially wrapped up its campaign at the close of the gymnastics competition last weekend.
USC’s favored wood pushers is led by Vic Glysen Derotas and Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano.
Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) is in third spot with 39.45 points but still has a chance to climb to second overall as it still has athletes competing this weekend. Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT-U) is in fourth with 32.5 points while at fifth place is the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) with 30.5.