Tankers, jins boost Baguio to top spot

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Swimmers Jamleth Marie Villanueva, Gwyneth Amber Cawaling and Jenkins Labao made the biggest splash even as Baguio City upstaged host Pangasinan with victories in swimming and taekwondo yesterday in the POC-PSC Batang Pinoy Games Northern Luzon qualifying leg.

Villanueva of Olongapo City capped a scintillating performance with a sixth gold medal in the girls’ 12-under 100-meter butterfly while La Union’s Cawaling shared the limelight with a similar golden haul following her victories in the 200m individual medley and 800m freestyle.

Baguio City pulled off a coup in taekwondo, seizing 13 of the 16 golds at stake, and got an extra lift from Labao and the rest of its swimmers to take the overall lead with 56 gold, 40 silver and 36 bronze medals.

One of the top performers in last year’s regional qualifier, Labao ruled the boys’ 13-15 100m fly and 200m IM on the final day of the swimming competitions at the Dagupan City Pool Site.

Labao earlier won the 200m free, 400m IM, and 200m fly and anchored the City of Pines to the 4x50m medley relay gold. Overall, Baguio won 11 golds in the pool.

Over at the Pangasinan Training and Development Center, finweight Christian Mark Duntugan bannered Baguio’s assault in taekwondo.

One of 11 young Filipino athletes who were flown by sponsors to London to watch the 2012 Olympics, Duntugan kept his title with a 9-8 win over Kurt Bryan Barbosa of Bangued, Abra.

Tristan Dale Cayago (bantam), Monsour Carlo Salazar (fly), Rencer Shane Lavestre (welter), Kendrix Galiah (feather), Christian Mapalo (middle), John Gervin Astrologio (light), Angelica Gaw (fin), Keyya Arizza David (fly), Colleen Heria (bantam), Leslie Agyamoc (feather), Phoebie Kate De Guzman (light) and Kaye Romuar (welter) also fuelled Baguio’s success.

Pangasinan dominated athletics with 38 golds but Baguio produced the best performers on the track.

Sisa Carunungan and Leah Taltala, both freshman at the the Baguio City National High School, pocketed five golds each after winning the girls’ 13-under 4x400m relay along with Kaizelle Vergara, who had four golds, and Gerimae Murillo.

The Baguio quartet timed 4:34.6 with Pangasinan (4:46.9) second and Candon, Ilocos Sur (5:43.5) third.

The host province also paraded several promising performers on the track, including Francis Marron, Rico Navarro and Mark Laurence Sanguir, who grabbed three medals each in the nationwide hunt for exceptional young athletes not over 15 years old.

Overall, Pangasinan, which snatched two golds in taekwondo and six in swimming, collected 47 gold, 70 silver and 65 bronze medals. Malolos, Bulacan, is a far third with a 13-7-7 tally.

John Carlo Dasalla shone for Pangasinan after topping the national finals in cycling. Dasalla of San Manuel town completed the 74 km course on Maramba Boulevard in 2:12:01, edging teammates Joel Pataray (2:12.05) and Kyle Dela Peña (2:12.15).

Boxers Ryan Paul Quitalag of Tarlac (light pinweight) and Aldrin Tactunay of La Union (pinweight) made it to the semifinals along with Jhun Dulce of La Union, John Gil Padilla of Pangasinan, Christopher Patino of Zambales and Wowie Abrujena of Cauayan, who are also vying for the gold in the 38 kg class.