New Clark City: University of the East's James Darrel Ordu±a and Far Eastern University's Rica Mae Balderama shared the limelight Saturday night in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium here. Ordu±a triumphed in the men's 10,000-meter run, clocking 32:04.01 to beat Prince Joey Lee of Spectrum-Sto. Ni±o Dialysis Center (32:08.50) and Richard Sala±o of the Philippine Army (32:14.60).
According to Philippines News Agency, Balderama pocketed the women's long jump gold medal in 5.75 meters. Philippine Army's Sarah Dequinan (5.69) won the silver while TAFT's Abcd Agamanos (5.55) got the bronze. In the men's javelin throw, Malaysia University's Elrick Roslee (63.35m) and Cheah Wei Jun (62.56m) secured the gold and silver medals, respectively, while Philippine Army's Melvin Calano (62.34m) won the bronze.
In the 4x100m relay, Malaysia University (Aliff Iman bin Mohd, Mohammad Thaqif bin Mohammad, Mohamad Raimi bin Mustaffa, and Muhammad Haziq bin Mohamad) clocked 40.79 seconds to rule the men's division. The Philippine National Team (Anfernee Lopena, Ronne Malipay, Kent Francis Jardin, and Clinton Kingsley Bautista) placed second in 41.02s followed by Pinoy Athletics (Terrence-O'Neil, Aris Narte, Neil Michael Catral, and Jhorge Ace Dannielle) in 41.66s.
FEU (Diane Shyr Taranza, Shane Joy Ponce, Angel Ann Pranisa, and Annie Rose Mercurio) topped the women's division in 47.09s. University of Santo Tomas (Lyka Miravalles, Iza Lorraine Pangilinan, Mailene Pamisaran, and Lianne Diana Pama) got the silver medal in 47.38s while TAFT (Trexie Dela Torre, Hannah Jandra Delotavo, Erica Marie Ruto, and Abcd Agamanos) won the bronze medal in 48.29s.
Meanwhile, UST's Ivan Ver Talplacido collected two gold medals in the U18 category of the tournament supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, EnergyA, Wireless Link, BCDA-New Clark City, ICTSI Foundation, Inc., CEL Logistics, United Auctioneers Inc., Milo Philippines, and Pocari Sweat. He won the men's high jump in 1.95 meters to prevail over Franklin Catera of Mapua University (1.90m) and Andry Paul Calicdan of Team Anda (1.85m).
Talplacido picked up his second gold medal in the 4x100m relay with Ivan Cabanda, Prince Germil Cuyos, and Reymark Cabansa. The team clocked 43.99s. KG Mercuries (Derwin Mher Poso, John Clinton Mitchel Abetong, Prinz Saied Remonida, and Ven Mark Belardo) finished second in 44.18s followed by CC Athletics (Mark Daniel Angeles, David Aldrin Gregorio, Irvin Dael Gacula, and Pi Durden Forward Wangkay) with a time of 44.49s.
The ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships serves as one of the qualifiers for the country's representatives in the 33rd Thailand Southeast Asian Games in December and the Asian Youth Games in Manama, Bahrain in October.