by Kristel Satumbaga
DAVAO City – Western Visayas athletes made their marks in the water – and in the wind.
WV bets Alexi Cabayaran and Trexie dela Torre shattered marks in swimming and athletics in the 2019 Palarong Pambansa in different venues here to highlight the day’s record-setting winners.
Cabayaran swam 2 minutes and 15.76 seconds to capture the elementary girls 200m freestyle gold at the University of the Philippines swimming pool and eclipse the meet record of 2:16.72 posted by National Capital Region’s Imee Joyce Saavedra in 2014.
Archery competitors take aim in the 36 arrows at 40 meters event of the Palarong Pambansa yesterday at the University of the Philippines Sports Complex Aquatics Centre in Davao City. (MB photo | Rio Leonelle Deluvio)
At the University of Mindanao track oval, Dela Torre leapt 5.84m to clinch the secondary girls long jump gold and edge Central Luzon’s Marvilyn Canion.
Dela Torre and Canion actually posted identical 5.84m marks on their last attempts but Dela Torre’s second-best performance of 5.77m was better than Canion’s 5.75m to earn the decisive nod.
She reset the 17-year-old mark of 5.66m by Southern Mindanao’s Maricel Sibug in 2002.
Dela Torre’s record-breaking feat was doubly impressive as she made it a few minutes after taking the bronze in the secondary girls 100m with a time of 12.43sec.
“Actually, wala ako sa focus dahil nagko-call na yung 100 meters pero tumatalon pa rin ako (I was distracted that I was still competing in long jump when they were already calling the participants in the 100 meters.),” said Dela Torre, a Grade 11 student of Romanito Maravilla National High School. Soccsksargen’s Hazel Domocum also broke the meet record in elementary girls long jump by leaping 5.08m for the gold, surpassing the 5.07 mark of Alyssa Andrade in 2010.
Meanwhile, Western Visayas’ Vince Jayson Buhayan clocked 10.62sec to dethrone NCR’s Veruel Verdadero (10.81sec) in the secondary boys 100m.
Central Visayas’ Decerie Niala ruled the distaff side in 11.98sec to cap off her final year in the tournament.