University of Santo Tomas virtually secured its first-ever Girls’ title after a dominant showing on the penultimate day of the UAAP Season 85 Athletics Championships, Saturday at the Philsports Track and Field Oval.
The Junior Female Tiger Tracksters left the competition behind with a huge 104-point burst in the day paced by a sweep of all three available golds for the girls’ side for a total of 421 points, 187 ahead of University of the East.
On the other hand, Adamson University moved on the verge of a breakthrough Boys’ crown despite some resurgence from second-running UST on the fourth day of the championships.
UST dominated the 5000m walk with a podium sweep with Francine Andrade leading the way with 34:54.13. Lyka Mae Raterta and Aira Gacusan then crossed the finish line at 35:10.80 and 35:11.30, respectively, to take the silver and the bronze medals.
Lyka Miravalles then went ahead of teammate Wency Eli to take the 400m hurdles title with 1:07.72 against 1:09.89. Juvelle Matnog got the bronze for Adamson with 1:11.82.
Jeanne Arnibal completed the dominant run from the Tiger Tracksters with a gold in the long jump with 5.28 meters, ahead of Lady Baby Falcons’ Rhea Lego and Leanne Flores who went 5.18 and 4.70 on their best jumps.
It was still UST that went 1-2 in the heptathlon with Eli taking the title with 2571 points over teammate Justine Vibano’s 2058. The event is a demonstration event and is not counted in the tally.
UE still stands in second place with 234 points, with Adamson rounding up the top three with 186.
On the other hand, the Baby Falcons amassed enough points to keep its lead over the Junior Male Tiger Tracksters, 387-329.
Adamson captured all but one of the five titles in store for the day with wins in the 1500m, 5000m, pole vault, and 400m hurdles, with John Mark Martir taking the first two golds.
Martir pulled through over UE’s Karl Angelo Oxales on a close finish to take the 1500m title. He went ahead of Oxales by a mere two one-hundredths of a second with 4:16.00 against 4:16.02. Rowin Ongcal, also from UE, got the bronze in a distant third with 4:29.24.
The Adamson rookie then returned later in the day to rule the longer 5000m with 17:39.02, still slightly ahead of Oxales’ 17:39.76, who settled for the silver again. Ongcal once again bagged third place with 18:46.53.
Leading MVP candidate Kent Jardin shone in the pole vault despite being the only Falcon in the field. The Iloilo native zoomed to 3.25 meters for the title, leaving Thomasians Sean Narag and Kent Abilay to the silver and bronze medals with identical 3.00m.
John Michael Manoloto shattered the one-minute mark in the 400m hurdles to take the gold with 58.50, way ahead of Narag’s 1:01.22 and UST’s Harvey Villasan with 1:02.28.
Chinno Balmores of UE kept his immaculate record to three golds in three events after grabbing the hammer throw title with a heave of 35.53m. Tiger Tracksters Rafael Ballelos and Cedrick Marquez went 2-3 with 34.33 and 24.25, respectively.
That gold from Balmores upped the Junior Warriors’ total to 232 points, to virtually seal a podium finish.
The Baby Falcons will try to clinch its first UAAP boys’ title since Season 61 with the Junior Female Tiger Tracksters making its first girls’ championship official on Sunday, the final day of the competition.
