NCR on target, puts lock on Palaro title

DUMAGUETE CITY —National Capital Region all but wrapped up yet another Palarong Pambansa overall championship yesterday with its swimming wonder girls Catherine Bondad and Regina Erin Castrillo each pulling off electrifying seven-of-seven gold medal finishes like Central Luzon’s Rafael Barreto at the San Lorenzo Teves Aquatics Center here.

With only the championship in the ball games left to be disputed, NCR was poised to dominate the annual competition for elementary and high school athletes again.

The 14-year-old Bondad topped the high school girls’ 200m freestyle and then propelled the NCR team to victory in the 400m free relay to duplicate the seven-gold feat she achieved two years ago in Dapitan City.

“My goal is to win seven golds and I’m very happy I did it. I prepared very hard for this and my hard  work all paid off,” said Bondad, an incoming junior at San Beda Alabang.

Castrillo, 12, matched Bondad’s feat in the elementary division by adding the 50m free gold to her earlier wins.

Barreto also ended up with seven golds after ruling the elementary boys’ 50m free and leading CL to the 400m free relay victory. Baretto anchored the team made up of McTracy Alindogan, Marc Audrey Santos and Beaver Pangan to a record 4 minutes 14.56 seconds.

The San Sebastian-powered NCR team made the finals in high school basketball after a 73-72 squeaker over Calabarzon-San Beda.

Western Visayas finished with 22 golds in athletics as Joida Cagnao prevailed in the girls’ high school 3,000 meters, Christopher Lirazan in boys’ high school 200 meters and Aira Teodocio in girls’ high school discus throw.

At Ang Tay Golf Course, NCR’s Luis Gabriel Moreno captured five gold medals and one bronze in boys’ secondary archery. The 14-year-old incoming La Salle-Green Hills sophomore won gold in the 30-meter, 40m, 50m, 60m and Single Fita and took the bronze in individual Olympic round behind NM’s Froilan Cataluna (gold) and CV’s Jujith Llanto (silver).