Dagmil, Villarito fail to land gold

PALEMBANG, Indonesia—Highly regarded Henry Dagmil and Rosie Villarito settled for silver medals late Sunday in the athletics competitions of the 26th Southeast Asian Games here.

The 30-year-old Dagmil, a Beijing Olympian and long jump champion in the 2005 and 2007 SEA Games, cleared 7.78 meters, just eight centimeters off the 7.86 winning effort of Thai Supanara Sukhasvas.

Villarito sent the javelin sailing 51.95 meters, surpassing her winning 49.69m throw in 2009 but falling short of the 55.15m golden effort of Malaysian Tang Song Hwa.

Another Filipino, Loralie Sarmona, salvaged the bronze with a heave of 49.69m.

Dagmil, who owns a personal best of 7.99m and bronze medalist in 2009, said he couldn’t find his rhythm and his approach was weak.

Benigno Marayag claimed the bronze with a 7.61m effort.

Late Saturday night, Rene Herrera again took the gold in the 3000m steeplechase, extending his regional reign to a decade.

Wisely avoiding watery spots in the rain-soaked track, the 32-year-old Herrera clocked 8 minutes 52.23 seconds, finishing three seconds clear of Indonesian Muhammad AQ.

It was the fifth straight title for the native of Jordan, Guimaras, just one shy of the record six golds won by the legendary Hector Begeo, who ruled the event in the 1983, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1995 and 1997 editions.

In the morning session, Marestella Torres clinched the country’s first gold with a giant leap of 6.71 meters.

That effort eclipsed the SEA Games standard of 6.68 she set in Vientiane.

Her heir apparent, Katherine Santos, copped the bronze with 6.25m.

The other bronze came from hammer thrower Loralie Sermona.

Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president Go Teng Kok has predicted six golds for his wards, who contributed seven in the last staging of the biennial meet.