NCR tanker goes 7-for-7

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Swimming marvel Axel Toni Ngui of National Capital Region went into overdrive yesterday, completing a perfect seven-of-seven in the pool  even as teammate Maureen Emily Schrijvers claimed the sprint double athletics in the penultimate day of the Palarong Pambansa here.

With the gallery cheering him on, Ngui added the boys’ high school 200-meter freestyle and the 400m free relay gold medals to his collection and became the most decorated athlete in the entire 2012 Palaro.

Leading off in the relay, his seventh event, Ngui built a two-arms’ length lead which he passed on to teammates Joseph Ventinilla, Samuel Gregorio Ongjoco and Ralph Kevin Claveria. He raised his fist and smiled after Claveria checked in way ahead of the field.

“I’m very relieved—I wanted to leave with a memorable swim here,” said the 18-year-old Ngui, an incoming college freshman at Ateneo.

His seven-gold feat is the most by a any Palaro athlete in recent years.

At the track oval, Schrijvers bucked a hurting knee to rule the girls’ high school 200-meter dash, complete a rare sprints double, and go three-for-three in her events. Athletics’ 16-year-old pin-up girl set a new record of 1.62 meters in high jump Thursday.

Schrijvers, born to a Chinese mother and a Belgian father in Manila, has expressed a desire to try out for the national team to the Southeast Asian Games next year.

With defending champion NCR and Western Visayas cancelling out each other’s dominance in swimming and track and field, respectively, focus shifted to other sports.

WV dominated arnis’ high school boys’ and girls’ divisions, and took the overall crown in the boys’ elementary taekwondo.

The Big City athletes, however, asserted their supremacy in elementary boys’ and girls’ gymnastics.

“I’m happy to win the gold, but I really pushed myself so hard to improve my time,” said Schrijvers, who plans to take up sports management at De La Salle University.

Yet athletics was largely a Western Visayas domain as one more Region 6 athlete set new Palaro record, a feat matched by a runner from Northern Mindanao.

Joneza Mie Sustituedo proved too classy for her rivals in the high school girls’ 3,000m run, clocking 10 minutes and 34.1 seconds for a new Palaro record for WV.

Running barefoot because she said spiked shoes bothered her, the lithe, 13-year-old Sustituedo smashed by more than six seconds the old 10:40.68 mark set by Mary Jane Campos of Central Visayas in the 2000 Palaro.

Sustituedo hails from Limbunao, Iloilo, and studies at Sun Yat Sen High School in Bacolod.

Jie Anne Calis of NM timed 4:48.9 in the elementary girls’ 1,500m run, improving the old 5:00.00 mark set by Ambagon of Southern Tagalog in 1996.

Ngui caught everyone’s attention at the Dagupan Poolsite after nailing the gold in the 100m butterfly, 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m free and 400m medley relay in the first three days of competitions.

NCR’s high school bet Catherine Bondad and elementary ace Raissa Gavina also turned in impressive showings in the pool, winning six gold medals each, while teammate Delia Cordero accounted for five victories while setting new Palaro records in the 200m butterfly and 200m medley relay in the process.

Joshua Benzi Yang also accounted for four golds for NCR in boys’ elementary.

In taekwondo action at the Divine Word Academy of Dagupan, Cordillera Administrative Region found a veritable gold mine with five wins in poomsae.

Tristan Dale Cayago and John Gerwin Astrologo topped the boys’ high school Group A and B contests, respectively, with Cagayo combining with Christian Mark Duntungan and Cromwell King Cayago for the team gold.

Only Erika Domingo managed to produce a gold for NCR in the girls’ HS individual Group B, even as CAR’s Angelica Joyce Gaw ruled Group A and teamed up with Leslie Marie Agyanoc and Phoebe Kate de Guzman for the gold.

NCR also flexed its muscles in the team events by sending squads to the finals of high school boys’ football and girls’ and boys’ high school volleyball.

It routed Bicol Region, 7-0, to barge into the football final against Central Visayas, which downed Mimaropa, 2-0.

In girls’ volleyball, NCR ripped Central Visayas, 2-1, to arrange a championship duel with WV, a 3-0 winner over NM. The NCR boys blanked Calabarzon, 3-0, and forged a final clash with CV, which trounced Central Luzon, 3-0.