Tracksters add 4 more golds;Vertek loses

Mercedita Manipol ruled the 10,000m run at sunrise while Rene Herrera topped the 800m run at dusk.

In between these two shining moments for the Philippines, javelin thrower Danilo Fresnido and long jumper Henry Dagmil both made even bigger feats in a decent showing of RP athletics in the second day of SEA Games hostilities at the Rizal track oval.

Fresnido easily defended his javelin throw title while Dagmil leapt to prominence with a record-breaking victory in long jump.

The day’s actions were about to end when the Philippines suffered a sorry loss on Eduardo ‘Vertek’ Buenavista’s shocking defeat in the 10,000m run.

Another bitter setback was the one suffered by John Lozada in the 800m run.

Buenavista and Lozada were leading their races towards the end only to be overtaken at the finish by the eventual gold-medal winners in their respective events to the chagrin of their fans.

The Philippines captured four of 14 athletics gold medals staked in the day and led the medal tally with a 5-4-3 gold-silver-bronze haul. Vietnam also won four gold medals and trailed the Philippines in the medal list with four silvers and one bronze.

Just like Sunday, the Philippines started the day on a winning note with Manipol, a 4-foot-11 San Agustin, Romblon, pulling off an upset in the women’s 10,000m run.

"I believed I’m now at the peak of my career so I gave everything to win the gold. At 24, I thought it’s now or never for me," said Manipol, who has improved on her bronze-medal finish in Vietnam in 2003.

Manipol also said a big motivation was the cash incentive she’s to receive which she intends to use for the construction of a house for her father. She said she had helped build a house for her sister early this year from a P94,000 prize he got from a Korean meet.

Herrera fashioned out his triumphant run in the 3000m steeplechase under gathering dusk right before President Arroyo who made a sudden appearance in the venue accompanied by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza.

The Guimaras Island native came out strong and won practically by a mile but finished way off the SEAG record and his personal best minus a worthy challenger.

"Nobody pushed me. I tried to break away right at the start and nobody chased me. I went on to keep my pace," said Herrera in Tagalog.

Dagmil pushed himself in his second try in the long jump and set a new Games mark of 7.81m, surpassing the old record of 7.79 Mohd Zaki Sadri made in the 1997 Jakarta Games.

A member of the national team since 2000, Dagmil was a poor sixth placer in the 2003 Vietnam Games due to a left hamstring injury. His personal best in the event was 7.83m he made in last year’s RP Open.

"I gave everything just in my second try. I was afraid I might re-injure my hamstring if I had to exert more efforts in my next jumps," said Dagmil, a 23-year-old South Cotabato native.