Golden double for Unso, sets new Palaro record

Patrick Unso more than made up for a frustrating campaign in Tacloban City when he captured his second gold medal in another record-breaking performance while National Capital Region (NCR) and CALABARZON swimmers continue to rule the pool in Thursday’s action of the 2010 Palarong Pambansa at the Tarlac Recreational Park in San Jose town. Unso, who was disqualified in last year’s Palaro due to a false start, topped the 110-meter hurdles breaking an 18-year-old record in the process for his second goldl.

He also had a record-breaking performance on Wednesday when he won the 400m hurdles gold. He can add two more medals to his collection since he is scheduled to compete in two more relay events. The 17-year-old Unso, the son of former national hurdler Renato and a juniors’ most valuable player in the 72nd UAAP, clocked in 14.68 seconds to eclipse the 1992 Palaro mark of 14.78 set by Mario Tabanio in Zamboanga City. “I’m overwhelmed. I’ve been training for this year and my hard work paid off," said UST Tiger Cub Unso. Three more Palaro records were shattered in athletics with Bicol region’s Jesusa Ampunan and the Western Visayas pair of Lorilyn Pamatian and Felyn Doluso posting new marks in their respective events. Ampunan grabbed the gold in the elementary girls’ 100m hurdles when she submitted a 16.40 seconds time to break the 16.50 mark of fellow Bicolana Zara dela Virgo during the 1998 Palaro. Pamatian, meanwhile, led a golden double for Western Visayas when she finished the elementary girls’ 800m run with a time of 2:24.38 shattering the 2:25.00 record set by Southern Tagalog’s Jovel Ambagon in 1996. Doluso followed suit in triple jump leaping to a distance of 12.35m to improve the 12.02m set by Southern Mindanao’s Maricel Sibug in the 2002 edition. SOCCSKSARGEN’s John Albert Mantua added the discus throw gold to his earlier victory in shot put while MIMAROPA’s Michelle Palamares scooped up the 100m run and 100m hurdles gold medals. Over at the pool, NCR’s Rafael Sta. Maria of NCR snatched his fourth gold medal when he teamed up with Christian Linsui, Jeremy Bryan Lim and Alfonso Jose Bautista to top the 200m freestyle relay. The NCR foursome, who set a record in the heats with a time of 1:52.05, finished the race a bit slower when they recorded 1:52.39. CALABARZON’s Catherine Bondad had another record-breaking feat in the elementary girls’ division when she collected her third gold medal in the 400m freestyle event. Bondad, who also won the 100m and 200m freestyle mints, submitted a time of 4:54.55 to surpass last year’s mark of 5:04.08 posted by Ariana Herranz. She won the 200m gold when she broke the 10-year 2:19.63 mark of San Pablo City’s Kersetine Velez when she registered a time of 2:18.86. Bondad’s teammate, Erika Kristy Lukang grabbed the gold in the secondary girls’ 800m freestyle event also in record-breaking fashion. She posted a 9:38.12 time to break the 9:48.69 record she set in the Tacloban City edition of the annual multi-sports spectacle. Gabriel Lorenzo Castelo gave another gold for NCR when he topped the secondary boys’ 100m butterfly event submitting a time of 59.07 seconds to shatter the 59.41 mark of Matthew Tano during the 2007 Palaro in Koronadal City, South Cotabato. Over at the Victoria National High School archery field, Zamboanga’s Jhan Mark Lapinig was right on target for his third gold by winning the secondary boys’ singles event. He previously won the 50m and 60m events. – GMANews.TV