UAAP Season 77 Men’s Track and Field Day 3 Recap

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Dominant.

This is the kind of performance that enabled Far Eastern University to clinch the championship even after just the 3^rd day of competition in the 77^th season of the UAAP track and field championships at the Philsports Arena Oval in Pasig City. After claiming three of the possible five gold medals up for grabs in day three of the competition, FEU sealed the deal to win their 5^th straight championship. Had a 2009-2010 University of the East not beaten them, the team from Morayta would have made it a 10-peat considering they had another 4-peat in the bag prior to the 2009-2010 season. Even if the battle for the top spot is already in the books, look for FEU to still bring the heat in every event they are a part of, hence the word, dominant.

Track Events

Due to changes in schedule regarding the typhoon that was supposed to hit the National Capital Region, the events were condensed into one day. This led to a rescheduling of one of the day’s most exciting events into an earlier slot, the 400m dash.

From the heats to the finals, the race didn’t disappoint. Heat 1 of the elimination round featured two of the heavy favorites in the 400m dash as sprint double champion Clinton Bautista from FEU went head to head against 2^nd generation athlete Michael Del Prado from De La Salle University. Both athletes finished in the low 50-second mark with Bautista only outrunning Del Prado by .08 seconds with a time of 50.03 seconds to place 2^nd overall in the qualifying round. Del Prado placed 3^rd overall in the first round. Although all eyes were on Del Prado and Bautista, it was be Gabriel Soriano from the University of the Philippines who stole the show by placing 1^st overall in the heats, and going on to win the gold medal and ruin Bautista’s plans of achieving the sprint treble- a rare feat of winning the gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 400m dashes. Soriano topped the elimination round by being the only athlete to break the 50-second barrier with a time of 49.86 seconds. The finals proved to live up to the hype of the eliminations as Soriano, Bautista, and Del Prado all finished within tenths of seconds away from each other. The 20-year old Soriano posted a personal best of 49.41 seconds to earn himself the gold and improved on his bronze medal finish the previous season. Bautista and Del Prado finished 49.52 and 49.89 seconds respectively to round up the top three.

Meanwhile in the 3000m steeple chase, the event witnessed the rising of a new champion. Season 76 3000m steeple chase silver medalist John Rey Moreno posted a new personal best of 9:35.52 to win DLSU’s 2^nd gold medal for the competition. Not to be outdone was University of Sto. Tomas’ Rustom Nava who clocked in at 9:39.72 to claim 2^nd place in the event. FEU’s Jomar Angus repeated his bronze medal performance from the previous year with a time of 9:41.36, almost 3 seconds slower than his time last year of 9:38.59. All members of the top eight finished a shade under the 10-minute and 30-second mark.

Relays are undoubtedly the highlight of each track and field competition and they lived up to their reputation on the 3^rd day of competition. Apart from FEU, four other teams finished in the 43-second mark, showing how close the race was. FEU, which blazed through the competition, clocked in a time of 42.39 seconds in a race that was close up until the 3^rd and 4^th legs of the event. With Bautista and decathlon silver medalist Mark Ian De Los Santos running the last 200m for FEU, the competition could only do so much as they gave the last necessary push to make their win decisive. DLSU came in 2^nd as Jasper Tanhueco anchored the team from Taft Avenue and out-dove a hungry and young UP team. DLSU only won by .03 seconds against UP with a time of 43.28 seconds. UE came in 4^th with a time of 43.63 seconds and Ateneo de Manila University finished 5^th, clocking in at 43.68 seconds. UST placed 6^th with a time of 44.15 seconds and to round up the top seven was a 45.26 second performance from Adamson University.

Field Events

It was nearly an all-FEU medal haul in the two field events for the day as the top four winners in the javelin throw were all from FEU. While in the triple jump, had it not been for a 13.87m jump from DLSU’s Gerald Layumas, FEU would have brought home all medals possible for the field events on day three.

FEU’s dominance in the javelin throw showcased all four of their athletes throwing at least 46m. Kenny Gonzales took home the gold medal by throwing 56.35m, six meters off his personal best and his teammate and shot put champion Brayan-Jay Pacheco threw 53.89m to claim the silver medal. Decathlon champion Janry Ubas came in 3^rd with a 47.98m throw. Completing the sweep was Rejohn Gadian who came in 4^th with his throw of 46.23m.

Ubas wasn’t done for the day as he led the way in the triple jump as well with an uncontested jump of 14.84m. FEU decathlete and silver medal finisher De Los Santos finished in 2^nd with a jump of 14.19m, the only other athlete to leap past the 14m mark. As mentioned earlier, DLSU’s Layumas placed 3^rd to foil the all-FEU medal haul for day three. Ubas is competing for the Most Valuable Player Award this season against his compatriot Bautista and with two gold medals each, it will be up to their performances in the remaining individual events to determine which Tamaraw will be declared MVP.

FEU clinches championship; UP, DLSU, and UST all within striking distance of podium finish

With FEU in the clear, there are three teams within striking distance of the other two spots on the podium. With two gold medals apiece, UST and DLSU can make the last day of competition interesting with several events up for grabs but UP, who has a total of six medals, can still spoil the party for both UST and DLSU. As the final day of competition unravels, look to these teams to push each other to the limit to earn the coveted podium finishes that they have been training for all year-round.

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