ANS ends Unit 5’s dominance

Abellana National School (ANS)/Unit 9 officially captured the secondary crown in the 21st Cebu City Olympics, which came to an end yesterday at the Cebu City Sports Center.

ANS got most of its points from gymnastics, where it gathered 35 points, sepak takraw (25 points), football (15 points), volleyball (25 points), taekwondo (22 points), softball (25 points), baseball (25 points) and athletics (30 points). It also won 45 points in the side events, which include the cheerdance, best in parade and the most disciplined awards.

All in all, the team finished with 341.5 points. ANS finished second last year to Unit 5.

“Naningkamot ang tanan para maka contribute ug bisan man lang gagmay nga points,” said ANS athletics director Francis Ramirez. “Siguro dako jud kayo ug natabang among batted games nga among gi apilan.”

Another big help was the separation of some private schools from their units. In the previous years, these private schools were grouped with other public and small private schools to form a single unit. Unit 5, the perennial champion in this annual multi-sporting meet, was where the University of Cebu (UC) belonged to.

This year, UC stood alone for the first time and managed to finish second with 266.5 points.

UC joined in 20 sporting events but failed to field in participants in major ball and batted games.

The University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department (USC-BED) rounded off the top three with 201.5 points. Unit 5 dropped to 16th spot in its first year without UC.

But Cebu City Vice Mayor Augustus “Joy” Young said ANS should be wary of UC next year.

“ANS has to be careful next year because UC and the other private schools will comeback strong,” he said. “Maybe they were just not able to adapt with the new format.”

Ramirez said his athletes will continue training after this competition before heading off to Linggayen, Pangasinan to forge an alliance with UC to defend the back-to-back titles of the Visayas Bisdaks in the third National Milo Little Olympics this November.

UNIT 8 WINS ELEMENTARY TITLE

Meanwhile, Unit 8 defended its elementary division title with 168.5 points. Unit 7 placed second with 155 points. Unit 2 claimed the third spot with 135.17 points.

Vice Mayor Young is planning to have a meeting with DepEd and the Cebu City Sports Commission to start preparations for the Central Visayas Regional Athletics Association (CVIRAA) meet next year.

Winners in this meet will form the core group of the team that will represent Cebu City in the CVIRAA.

“We’ll we have to increase the city’s assistance to our athletes because we have seen their determination this year,” said Young.

In the football final yesterday, the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) clinched the secondary and elementary titles at the University of San Carlos Technological Center.

DBTC’s secondary team became the champions for the second straight year with a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over ANS while its elementary team made it a double victory with a 5-0 blanking of Bright Academy.

Placing third for both levels was Springdale .

In the secondary battle, Springdale blanked Maria Montessori International School (MMIS), 7-0, while its elementary team routed City Central School, 4-1.

The other final game played yesterday was volleyball, wherein ANS won the boys’ title and the University of San Jose-Recoletos topped the girls’ side.

In the elementary division, Colegio del Sto. Niño ruled the boys’ competition while Unit 7 were champions in the distaff side. /with reports from CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON