SAN ILDEFONSO, Ilocos Sur—Baguio City bet Jathniel Caleb Fernandez and Sta. Rosa City’s Adrianna Jessie Magbojos made heads turn in the archery competition Monday, Dec. 19, after reaping five gold medals apiece in the 2022 Batang Pinoy National Championships at the San Ildefonso Central School here.
The nine-year-old Fernandez, the youngest of four siblings who are also archers, dominated the 10 meters, 15 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters and 1440 of the boys 10-under division to become the most bemedalled athlete along with Magbojos so far in this multisport grassroots program of the Philippine Sports Commission.
He ruled the 10m class with a score of 304, the 15m with 243, the 20m with 260m, the 30m with 257, and the 1440 event with 1064.
The Grade 3 student of Baguio Pines Family Learning Center guns for his sixth gold in the Olympic round Tuesday, Dec. 20.
“Natuwa kami na nanalo siya,” said Fernandez’s father, Randy.
“It’s a fitting reward for his hard work,” added Fernandez’s coach of more than one year, Alexis Requipo. “He shoots every night before going to bed and works hard every Saturday and Sunday. He is very responsive to instructions and he adjusts very well under pressure.”
Magbojos, meanwhile, dominated the 10m, 15m, 20m, 30m and 1440 divisions in the girls 10-under.
The 9-year-old stalwart of coach Emanuel Caducoy scored 345 in the 10m, 328 in the 15m, 332 in the 20m, 293 in the 30m, and 1298 in 1440 class.
At the Quirino Stadium in Bantay, Mico Villaran of Bacolod City claimed his third gold medal after triumphing in the boys 400m hurdles in 57.72sec – five seconds faster than his qualifying time of 1:02.10 that only placed him second.
The 15-year-old Romanito Maravilla National High School student, who only started with the sport four years ago, first clinched the 200m gold in 23.18sec and the 110m hurdles in 15.17sec.
“Pangarap ko pong mag-compete sa Southeast Asian Games at sa international,” said Villaran.
Leonelyn Compuesto of Masbate captured her second gold medal after teaming up with Alessandra Capellan, Realyn Lanuza and Jesalyn Materdan to prevail in the girls 4x100m relay with a time of 52.61sec.
She opened her campaign Sunday afternoon, Dec. 18, with a golden feat in the girls 200m by clocking 26.64sec.
In cycling, Caloocan City bet Maritanya Krog followed up her golden victory in the girls 13-below criterium race by topping the individual time trial in 12 minutes and 39.240 seconds for her second gold medal.
Calapan City’s Jhanah Abella was at far second in 12:57.346 while Iloilo City’s Maria Louisse Alejado came in third in 13:02.073 in the race that started and finished at the Provincial Capitol.
In wushu’s virtual competition, Quezon City came away with six gold medals led by Alexander De los Reyes and Zion Daraliay.
De los Reyes prevailed in the male barehand-1st set chang quan, male 1st set short weapon (jian shu and nandao) and male long weapon, while Daraliay won in the female barehand-24 steps taiji quan and female tai ji jian.
Gabriel Matthew Cua also contributed for the team with a victory in the male short male short weapon – 1st set dao shu.