Cray rules 100 meters; Villarito nails 2nd gold
MANILA, Philippines — Eric Shawn Cray fell short of smashing the national record with a convincing win in the men’s 100 meters even as thrower Rosie Villarito pocketed her second gold medal Sunday in the PSC-POC Philippine National Games.
Villarito, a silver medalist in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, added the women’s shotput gold to her win in javelin with an 11.30-meter heave to edge Riza Faith Sombilla of UST (11.23) and Lei Ann Tan of Philippine Air Force (11.11).
Seeking to register a third national mark following his record-breaking wins in the 110m and 400m hurdles last year, Cray blazed the track in 10.67 seconds but fell short of Ralph Waldy Soguilon’s 10.45-second run set in 2007.
“There’s still more room for improvement (in the 100m). Let’s see if I could break my own record in the hurdles,” said the 25-year-old Filipino-American from San Antonio, Texas who also captured the 400 hurdles gold in the 2013 SEA Games.
Eddie Edwards Jr. from Kinabalu, Sabah settled for the silver in 10.91 seconds while La Salle’s Noli Torres finished third (11.01) under cloudy skies at the Philsports track and field oval.
High jump mark Angelica Janda of Far Eastern University matched the record-breaking feat of Aprilen Laudencia in the junior women’s high jump in the competition backed by Summit Water, Bala Energy Drink, Milo, Standard Insurance and SM-Marikina.
The 17-year-old Janda cleared 1.66 meters to match Laudencia’s mark set during the 2012 UAAP season.
Jomar Udtohan of San Sebastian, who smashed five Palaro records recently in Laguna, limped to the finish line in the junior men’s 100m dash finals after topping the heats the day before. Udtohan strained his left quadriceps with 20 meters to go and finished seventh (11.81 seconds) in the century dash won by UST’s Romnick Nor (11.27).
Disqualified Nor actually placed second to 20-year-old Micael Mana-ay of Bacolod, who was disqualified after organizers found out that he was over the age limit of 19 and below in the juniors category.
Other gold medalists in athletics were multiple SEAG gold winner Arniel Ferrera (hammer throw), Dave Gumacal (senior men 10,000m walk), Vilma Santa Ana (senior women 10,000m walk), Leah Joan Creer (junior women 100m), Regan Contic (junior men discus), Clair Diongson (junior men 10,000m) and Elizabeth Capioso (junior women 10,000m walk).
Over in Tagaytay City, 18-year-old Jerich Farr sparkled in the downhill event of cycling MTB with the fastest time of 1:54.81.
Eleazar Barba (1:55.46) ended up with the silver. Nino Surban clocked 48 minutes and 56 seconds to win the elite men’s cross-country event over March Aleonar (49:51) and Alvin Benosa (50:18).
MTB specialist Jigo Mendoza claimed the gold (54:54) and stunned veteran cyclist John Renee Mier (56:06) in the men’s under-23 cross country event. Ariana Dormitorio (50:55) won the women’s under-23.
In arnis, Cris Quitallo of Dasmariñas shone in the 17-below anyo men’s individual single weapon while Norielyn Sagun of Baguio beat Cainta’s Noryl Aldogre and Geraldyn Canete in the anyo women’s individual single weapon.
