NCR retains elementary, secondary titles

PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan — The National Capital Region swept the elementary and secondary championships in the Palarong Pambansa, capping its domination with a gold medal romp in basketball at the close of the event at the Ramon V. Mitra, Jr. Sports Complex here yesterday.

The powerhouse NCR cage squad blasted Calabarzon, 70-55, to run away with the crown while its girls’ volleyball team held off Western Visayas, 25-21, 25-23, 26-24, to highlight NCR’s final day romp.

NCR amassed a whopping 375 points, including 50 from victories in basketball and girls’ volleyball,  to thwart Western Visayas’ final day charge for its fourth straight overall championship.

NCR also took the elementary overall title for the second straight year as it garnered 263 points, besting Western Visayas’ 217.5 and Calabarzon’s 203.5.

 NCR also took the elementary overall championship by garnering 263 points, besting Western Visayas’ 217.5 and Calabarzon’s 203.5. The bets from Region VI topped their favorite sport – football – in a dramatic 1-0 victory that was decided by a penalty shootout. WV then beat Calabarzon twice, 6-4 and 1-0, to clinch its 14th straight softball gold.

The twin victories gave Western Visayas 210.67 points for second overall, nipping Calabarzon, which pooled 205.67 points.

Central Visayas finished fourth with 127.17, Central Luzon had 77.17 for fifth and Davao Region sixth with 75.5.

Cotabato Region, host Mimaropa, Cordillera Administrative Region and Northern Mindanao ended up seventh to 10 places with 58, 52.5, 41 and 40 points, respectively.

Rounding up the top 10 in the elementary division were Central Visayas (140), Central Luzon (78.5), Northern Mindanao (47.5), Cotabato Region (45.5), Ilocos (45), Davao (27) and Mimaropa (25).

NCR also struck heavily in boys’ athletics, thanks to the troika of second-generation track stars composed of Isidro del Prado Jr., Jose Renato Unso and Justin Tabunda and its boys and girls swim teams.

Del Prado, the 16-year-old son of former two-time Olympian Isidro del Prado, Sr., was named the Most Outstanding Athlete in the secondary boys while Vienna Mae Banebane of Western Visayas emerged the best performer in the girls’ side.

Del Prado, who played his first and last Palaro, harvested four gold (400m and 800m 4x100m and 4x400m) and a silver medal (200m) while Banebane won in 400m hurdles, 400mn and 200m.

Chinese-Belgian Maureen Emily Schrijvers of the NCR snared the sprint doubles and high jump golds while Jacob Niel Estinor ruled the 400m, 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles to emerge the top athletes in the elementary level.

The rest of the Big City’s victories came in girls and boys archery, badminton and chess, sepak takraw and boys taekwondo where it bested Cordillera Administrative Region and Northern Mindanao, which came in second and third places, respectively.

But it was in basketball where NCR came out the most imposing after the Ryan Buenafe-powered cagers steamrolled the opposition with an impressive average of 37.375 in eight matches.

“We’re just blessed we have talented players,” said NCR coach Raymond Valenzona. Buenafe, the 2007 NCAA juniors MVP who will play for Ateneo in the coming UAAP wars, fired 16 points, including a pair of  triples, to power NCR to victory and earn him the MVP plum.

Calabarzon, represented by San Beda, was led by Arthur dela Cruz’s 21 points but the Red Cubs sorely missed the services Nicolas Salva, who sprained his ankle two weeks ago, and Arjohn Mariano, who was in the United States representing the country in a 3-on-3 event.

“If we had these two players, maybe it would have been different,” said NCR mentor Rene Vaena. Although it finished at distant second overall, Western Visayas ruled the two sports that it loved most—football and softball.

With the game ending in a scoreless draw, winger Jesus Melieza, midfielder Ernie Lazarte, Jr. and stopper Richel Sumabong delivered the winning goals in the shootout while Central Visayas could only make two courtesy of Jephumen Delano and Myles Cho to pull off the dramatic win.

The win was a repeat of the 2-0 win Western Visayas, represented by the country’s center of football universe Barotac Nueva in Iloilo, dealt on its regional rival this tournament that extended the region’s dominance of the sport for the fourth straight year.

“This is the best defense we ever faced in this tournament, I’m happy we came out with the win,” said Western Visayas coach Domingo Subo in Filipino. Western Visayas’ softball squad, in contrast, had to battle its way in erasing Calabarzon’s twice-to-beat advantage.

In the first win, designated hitter Clarice Palma and third base Charmaine Joy Oria belted a home run apiece in the second and third inning, respectively, to force the deciding game where shortstop Carol Banay blasted the third-inning homer  that turned out the game winner. Angelica Benjamin, 15, pitched a two-hitter.

despite undergoing appendicitis operation just a month back that gave the kept the region’s domination of softball in this event since 1991.

The twin wins came sweet as Region IV avenged a 0-5 loss to Region IV-A in the prelims.

“This is a nice way to win the gold,” said Western Visayas mentor Tony Oquindo, whose belles are expected to receive P5,000 apiece as incentive from Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco for their feat. Western Visayas also drew strength from its girls’ track and field squad and artistic gymnastics squad to edge Calabarzon, which won in boys’ badminton and boys and girls table tennis, in a tight battle for runner-up honors.

Central Luzon whipped Central Visayas, 61-51, to snare the elementary basketball gold while the NCR walloped Western Visayas twice, 18-3 and 8-0, to snatch the elementary baseball gold.

In elementary softball, Western Visayas plastered Northern Mindanao with a barrage of hits to hack out a gold-clinching 7-3 win.

“It’s a team effort, I’m proud of my girls,” said Western Visayas coach Teresita Himpolaran.