SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — Heart and determination gave CALABARZON’s ace sprinter Veruel Verdadero his fifth gold in athletics.
Verdadero’s smashing fifth gold came in the secondary boys’ 4 X 100 meter relay in a record-breaking feat, clocking 42.48 seconds to punctuate Friday’s last day of athletics competition at the Binirayan Sports Complex here.
The 15-year old Verdadero triumphed was truly a team effort as he was supported by his teammates – Karl Arvin Aquino ,Ryan Joseph and Jiovanne Calixto. Their team smashed the old mark of 47.06 set by Western Visayas in 2016 edition.
“CALABARZON No. 1 , this is for you,” chanted Verdadero, seconds after he crossed the finish line, beamed by wild cheers from his co-athletes.”Thank for all your support,” said the son of a driver, raising a victory sign as he approach his teammates which saw them also in jubilation.
The boys quartet of National Capital Region (NCR) finished second at (42.91 secs) and Davao region came in third (43.10 secs.)
Not to be outshined by their boys counterpart, CALABARZON’s secondary girls 4 X 100 relay also brisked for the gold,clocked 48.40 seconds, beating Eastern Visayas’ 48.94 secs. to settle for the silver and Negros Island region third with 49.09.
In the elementary level of 4 X 100 meter relays, Western Visayas captured the gold (53.57), Cagayan Valley’s 53.79 for silver and NCR settled for bronze (54.05).
CALABARZON’s “triple-triple gold was made in the afternoon by Edwin Giron, ruling the secondary boys’ 800 meter run at 1 minute and 57.24 seconds, he beat Ferdinand Tridanio of Cagayan Valley (1:58.21) and Kevin Melendez of Ilocos region (1:58.49).
Other track winners in the afternoon were: Edna Magtubo of Western Visayas who took the gold in elementary girls’ 800 (2 mins.and 23.19 secs), Lheslie De Lima of Bicol region (2:25.45) and Samantha Nicole Caneba of NCR (2:27.16); Jeremiah Hipel of Cordilleras bagged the gold in the boys category (800 m) clocking 2:11.25, beating CLuzon’s Juan Miguel La Madrid (2:12.28) and Cagayan Valley’s Jhon Jhon Cabaro ( 2:13.14).
While in the secondary level of 800 meter run—NCR’s Jie Anne Calis topped the girls category with 2:13.35, defeating Western Visayas’ Edraline Celestia (2:17.13) and Eastern Visayas’ Chin Chin Nierves (2:20.04). Primo Agatep/PNA-northboundasia.com