Laguna dominates Batang Pinoy athletics

MANILA, Philippines—Laguna sizzled on the track, nearly sweeping all the gold medals at stake in athletics Monday in the Southern Luzon qualifying leg of the 2011 Batang Pinoy Games.

Jed Jusua Umali kicked off the gold rush with a victory in the 2,000-meter walk as the host province bagged 10 of the 11 gold medals disputed at the Laguna Sports Complex oval in Sta. Cruz.

Umali, a junior from Siniloan National High School clocked 15 minutes and 47.07 seconds to beat provincemate Christian Vandebarro (15:51:06) but the 15-year-old fell short of victory double in the 800m run won by teammate Gilbert Rutaquio in 2:15.30.

Also contributing to Laguna’s golden harvest were Jiezele Alcantara in the girls’ 800m (2:39.00), Ian Christian Meneses in the boys’ 110m hurdles (17.4), Jonnalyn Duran in the girls’ 100m hurdles (19.5), Wendell Llames (11.96m) and Charies Mae Violanta (8.51m) in boys’ and girls’ shotput, respectively and Darius Badillo (5.77m) and Joyce Cabaneros (3.85m) in the boys’ and girls’ long jump, respectively.

Antipolo’s Dustine De Vera prevented a Laguna sweep on Day 1 of the athletics competition by snatching the boys’ 100m dash gold over hometown favorites Jacob Delos Santos and Rex Benedict. Laguna’s Marimar Amarga ruled the girls’ 100m dash.

De Vera, winner of the 200m dash in last year’s Milo Little Olympics, clocked 11.6 seconds to outsprint Delos Santos (11.8) in the four-day tournament organized by the Philippine Sports Commission and sponsored by Smart and Maynilad.

De Vera, Antipolo’s lone entry in athletics, is also a favorite in the 200m and 400m.