NCR keeps Palaro overall supremacy

SAN JOSE, ANTIQUE, Philippines – National Capital Region captured three gold medals in the ballgames including in the sport that mattered most – basketball – to cap its dominating effort and romped away with a 13th straight overall title in the Palarong Pambansa that concluded at the Binirayan Sports Complex here yesterday.

Suiting up just eight players after the rest got injured, the Big City, represented by Chiang Kai Shek, destroyed host Western Visayas’ Sta. Clarita International School of Iloilo, 75-48, to reclaim the secondary basketball gold medal it last won two years ago in Tagum, Davao del Norte.

And it doesn’t matter that Karl Tamayo, Jon Lim and Batang Gilas veteran Jonas Tibayan fell to injuries, leaving NCR with just a decimated and lean but mean rotation of Joshua Ramirez, JC Lozano, Miguel Jocson, Enzo Serrano,EJ Adbong, Robert Minerva and Jerson Montes.

“It was very challenging because we had only eight players. The first challenge was actually how we will last in the tournament considering that our earlier games were played outdoors,” said NCR coach Goldwyn Monteverde, who was the same mentor when the NCR took the cage gold two years back.

“Good thing we ended up winning the gold,” he added.

NCR also thrashed Negros, 57-32, to nail its second straight secondary girls’ basketball mint.

NCR, which was represented by Claret School, was as impressive in football as it bested Western Visayas’ Barotac Nuevo, considered the country’s epicenter of football, with a 3-1 result to top the event for the second straight year.

Mentored by Pabs Salvacion, NCR went on attack mode early, scoring three goals – two coming from Shanden Vergara (10th and 37th minute) and the other from Kieth Absalon (seventh minute) – to go into halftime with a comfortable lead.

Western Visayas managed just a goal courtesy of Johnny Toledo, Jr. on the 57th minute the rest of the way to allow NCR to the win.

Absalon ended up as the best goal scorer, striker and MVP.

Salvacion though stressed it was a total team effort.

“The boys showed heart and toughness, all the members of the team did their part,” said Salvacion in Filipino.

Calabarzon stole some of the spotlight by reigning supreme in secondary baseball where it came back from 0-2 down to eke out a 6-3 triumph, and sweep the secondary girls and boys volleyball.

Its boys’ team trounced Davao, 25-23, 24-26, 26-24, 25-20, while its girls squad came back from two sets down to beat NCR, 19-25, 11-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-9.

Falling down early, Calabarzon, reperesented by La Salle-Lipa, fought its way back with setter Janel Maraguinot, younger sister of Ateneo standout Jhoanna, Alleiah Jan Malaluan and Alyssa Solomon doing most of the damage.

Malaluan’s two straight aces completed Calabarzon’s dramatic comeback.

It was sweet revenge for Calabarzon as it denied NCR, which qualified King’s Montessori of Quezon City, a three-peat   while avenging the former’s defeat to the latter in last year’s gold medal match in Legazpi, Albay.

“The girls just refused to give up,” said Calabarzon coach Regine Diego, who played for La Salle in the UAAP from 2006 to 2009. 

The towering duo of Solomon and Malaluan ended up raking in most of the individual awards with the former named as MVP and Best Opposite Spiker and the latter as Best Blocker.

NCR lost the secondary baseball gold when it blew a 1-4 lead after the top of the third inning and fell to eventual winner Negros, 5-4, no thanks to the latter’s match-clinching two runs in the bottom fifth.

At the end of this weeklong event, NCR ran away with the overall championship with a 98-66-45 (gold-silver-bronze) haul, a harvest of 66-45-26 medal of which came in the secondary level and a 32-21-19 tally in the elementary division.

Thanks to its final day rampage in the ballgames, Calabarzon edged Western Visayas for second place overall in the secondary bracket with a 23-30-35 collection and the overall race with a 41-57-57 count.

The host region settled for third in secondary with 20-13-21 as well in the overall standings with 38-29-40.

Making the top 10 overall were Negros (26-27-36), Socsargen (26-22-35), Cordillera Administrative Region (26-21-21), Davao (22-25-24), Northern Mindanao (20-20-42), Central Visayas (20-18-19) and Central Luzon (15-18-28).

NCR struck heaviest in swimming where Maurice Sacho Illustre emerged the most bemedalled male tanker with seven golds and Jerald Jacinto re-arranging seven records on his way to four golds.

A total of 18 records in 15 events were reset at the pool while six Palaro marks fell in centerpiece athletics.

NCR’s Julius Gonzales and Cordillera’s Samantha Revita took the secondary standard chess gold before teaming up with Jeth Romy Morado and Bea Mendoza, respectively, to win the team event.

Mendoza captured her second gold by bagging the blitz mint with 6.5 points ahead of NCR’s Alexis Osena and Ilocos’ Maycydel Fajardo, who ended up with the silver and bronze with 5.5 points apiece.

Gonzales missed a third gold when he managed just a silver in blitz won by Davao’s Carl Zirex Sato.

 Meanwhile, the 60th edition of this event for K-12 officially drew to a close with host Antique Gov. Rhodora Cadiao and Sen. Franklin Drilon gracing the ceremony.