Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) member schools University of Cebu (UC) and University of San Carlos (USC) are fighting for the top spot in the secondary division of the ongoing 22nd Cebu City Olympics held in various venues in Cebu City.
Both UC and USC and are in a neck-to-neck battle as the Webmasters have 69 points followed by the Warriors’ 67.
South District 5 has 37 points while first-day leader South District 8 remained with 32.5 points and dropped to fourth spot. North District 1 is at fifth with 25 points.
In the elementary division, USC-Basic Education (USC-BED) leads with 60 points while South District 5 is at second with 55 points followed by first day leader South District 6 with 33.5 points. South District 4 is at fourth with 28 points while South District 1 at fifth place with 20 points.
The medal rich swimming event came to an end yesterday and UC and USC emerged the top performers tied with 50 points each.
UC managed 16 gold medals courtesy of its strong girls secondary swimmers.
UC’s Beth May Arellano won the 200-meter Individual medley, 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke while Trina Caneda topped the 200m backstroke. Danielle Mae Ballesteros lorded the 200m breast and 400m freestyle while Annita Monterola won the 100m breast. When joined together, the aforementioned swimmers together with Shane Allyne Pareja dominated the 400m freestyle and medley relays.
Michael Ichiro Kong also hauled five gold medals after he dominated the 200m IM and 100m butterfly, 400m and 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly while teammates Robin Jacobsen, Clarence Gabunada and Matthew Caneda helped the UC team win the 400m free relay and 200m medley relay.
Winners for USC at the pool were Cynthjune Goden for the 200m and 100m breast strokes, Tristan Kirk Ebon in the 800m freestyle, Razel Cabajar in the 100m freestyle and the boys relay team that topped the 400m medley and 200m freestyle relay. The girls also won the 200m freestyle relay.
UC also got wins in athletics event, which is scheduled to finish today.
UC’s Doren Romeral and Raul Perez Jr. snatched the gold medals in the 110/100m hurdles along with the victory of Nino Vincent Soria and Shantel Tanucan in the long jump event.
Perez added another gold after ruling the 700m run along with teammate Camylle Psalm Mosota in the girls division. Roar Hyrum Perez topped the 400m hurdles.
In the elementary side, USC-BED banked on its swimming team to accumulate 30 points each.
Meanwhile, the Maria Montessorri International School (MMIS) is slowly becoming a force to reckon with in swimming after contributing a 22-36-10 (gold-silver-bronze) medal tally in elementary and secondary division to North Unit 8.
three records
Aside from that, MMIS secondary level tanker Myles Ioannis Chi posted three new records in the 100-meter freestyle, 100m and 200m backstroke.
One of the records that Chi broke with his time of 2 minutes and 28.29 seconds was Ruben Suerte’s in 1997 in the 200m backstroke.
In the 100m freestyle, Chi posted 58.88 seconds to break the record of Jebb Cane while he posted the new time of 1:06.88 in the 100m backstroke erasing the record of Anthony Lyn Navarro.
MMIS’ Matheu Tomas Magale also finished as the most bemedalled swimmer in the elementary boys division after raking in seven gilts, 5 from the individual events and 2 from the relays.
Magale dominated in the 50m and 100m backstroke, 100m and 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly. /with reports from mars g. alison