Another great escape

For the University of Cebu (UC), this year’s edition of the Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals will serve as a reminder that it can’t take the competition lightly in the coming years.

But for now, the Webmasters can still breathe a sigh of relief as it managed to secure its 17th straight secondary crown to remain the undisputed champions in this annual school-based multi-sporting event.

UC faced anxious moments in the two-weekend meet as its powerhouse athletics team was challenged to its limits by a determined Iloilo National High School squad. It then had to bank on an impressive showing from its swimming team in the final stages of the meet to squeak past the University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department (USC-BED) for the overall secondary title.

The Webmasters finished with a total of 176.25 points followed by USC-BED’s 161.5 points. The University of the Visayas (UV) settled for third (77.5) while last year’s second placer Abellana National School (ANS) was at fourth (75.5).

“We have seen the worst,” said UC athletic director Bernard Ricablanca. “We believe this is a big miracle for us, winning the title again. We are just very blessed that we still have talented athletes and good coaches who dedicate their time and effort to strengthen the sports program of UC.”

Ricablanca particularly cited the efforts of swimmer Michael Ichiro Kong, who spearheaded the surprise showing of UC at the Cebu City Aquatic Center over the weekend.

Kong plucked nine gold medals and broke three meet records in 14 swimming events to help UC’s boys swim team bag 20 points for a second-place finish. That, coupled with the 30 points from the girls’ team, allowed UC to finish with a 50-point mark in swimming, dethroning last year’s champion USC-BED.

“I am so humbled with my accomplishments,” said Kong, who topped the 800-meter freestyle, 100m back stroke and 200m butterfly events yesterday. “I am still going to train hard to try to improve my time in some events.” Kong also won the 200m IM, 200m backstroke, 400m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly and 4×50 IM relay last Saturday.

The Warriors finished with 40 points with its boys hauling 30 and its girls’ squad adding 10.

Kong broke Anthony Lynn Navarro record of 2:33.64 in the 200m backstroke with his 2:29.27, John Beltran’s record of 2:19.00 in the 200m freestyle with his 2:18.60 and his own 2011 record of 2:29.03 in the 200m butterfly event with a new time of 2:28.76.

UC’s champion girls swimming team got golds from Danielle Mae Ballesteros (200m breaststroke), Trina Cañeda (200m backstroke and the 200m freestyle) and Annita Monterolla (100m butterfly). The team also bagged the gold in the 400m freestyle relay, 200m freestyle relay, 200m medley relay and 400m medley relay along with Shayne Allen Pareja and Beth May Arellano.

MOST COMPETITIVE

Top performers in this regional meet will make up the core of the Visayas team that will shoot for a fourth straight crown in the  4th National Milo Little Olympics slated Oct. 19 to 21 in Marikina.

Kong said he is excited to be representing the Visayas and eager to show his stuff there. “But I will be joining only six events in the national finals to way give my fellow Visayan swimmers,” said Kong, who won eight gold medals in the Speedo G-league swimming competition in Dumaguete earlier this year.

Visayas delegation head and regional organizer Ricky Ballesteros, meanwhile, said this is by far the most competitive year in the history of the Milo Visayas Regional finals.

“I have never seen this kind of competitiveness from schools participating this year. For that, I am very happy because this means this will make up the strongest lineup of Team Visayas. I am very confident that we can win the four-peat.”

Earlier yesterday, USC looked headed towards an upset win over UC when its woodpushers dominated the chess event worth 30 points. The Warriors’ boys and girls teams ruled the competition to pull the team to within five points in the overall standings. But all that shattered once the swimming results were tabulated and recorded.

“There is still another year to compete and we were not that pressured to win the secondary title,” said USC-BED’s athletic director Saturnino Mayormita. “We just let our athletes enjoy every game. What’s important is that we contribute quality athletes for team Visayas.”

ELEMENTARY CHAMPS

But USC-BED still had something to celebrate as its elementary squad went on to win its third straight overall crown.

The team shone in the chess tournament in the elementary division headed by 2012 Shell National Youth Active Chess finalists Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano and Vic Glyzen Derotas.

All in all, USC-BED finished with a total of 135.25 points to run away with the elementary crown. UV was at far second with 61.25  followed by Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) with 50.7 points.

USC-BED actually had bets in all of the 12 sporting events, which is the reason why  it was a top contender in both divisions of the meet.

USC-BED’s elementary squad got most of its points from swimming, chess and athletics while UC’s secondary squad got 50 points each from its athletics and swimming bets.