Kent Francis Jardin shone anew by bagging his third gold medal to become the most bemedalled athlete so far in the 2023 ROTC Games National Championships at the Philsports Track Oval on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 24.

Still fresh from winning the men’s 200 meters and mens’ 4x100m relay the day before, the 19-year-old UAAP standout anchored Adamson University in winning the men’s 4x400m relay gold before rainy conditions.

He and teammates John Yuri Jumaday and John Mark and John Eril Martir clocked 3 minutes and 32.21 seconds to beat DMMMSU (3:39.81) and CAVSU (3:44.16).

Also sharing the spotlight were Rizal Technological University’s Arturo Ocana and University of Baguio’s Jeslymay Licup, who became the fastest man and woman in the weeklong hostilities.

Ocana, a 20-year-old Mechanical Engineering student, sprinted his way to the finish line with a time of 11.21 seconds to capture the men’s 100-meter gold medal ahead of QSU’s James Borja (11.36sec) and WVSU’s Peter Molina (11.43sec), who settled for the silver and bronze.

“Ginawa ko lang yung best ko as long as hindi ako ma-injury,” said Ocana, who actually topped the heats along with Borja with identical times of 11.29sec.

A few minutes later, it was Licup’s time to shine as she copped the women’s 100m gold in 13.01sec ahead of Adamson runners Christine Guerio (13.17sec) and Hope Charity Labunayan (13.18sec).

The victory came as a surprise for the Masbate native Licup, who admitted that she didn’t have enough time to warm up to the race due to the intermittent rainy conditions.

“Akala ko hindi na matutuloy kasi malakas yung ulan kanina. Hindi ako nakapag-all-out kasi wala akong warmup masyado kaya unexpected na naipanalo ko,” said Licup, a Criminology student who also won the silver medal in the 200m the day before.

Guerio and Labunayan, meanwhile, joined forces with Samantha Nicole and Lea Mae Pareva for Adamson in winning the women’s 4x400m relay gold with a time of 4:53.12.

Fullbright and UCV came in silver and bronze in 5:08.25 and 5:08.87, respectively.

In kickboxing, three fighters from the Air Force advanced to the next round after whipping their respective foes.

John Michael Etac prevailed over Prince Alfred Remolado, 3-0, in the male 57kgs; Roberto Pedriquez won via second-round knockout over Navy’s Dimple Ibao Masabe; Ghen-yan Berdon also toppled teammate Michael Bryan Coronado via first-round knockout; and Nelson Alcon dominated Army’s Aljon Sabugar.