By June Navarro
Inquirer
ILOILO CITY–Many have tried but no one has come close to approximating the promise shown by former Asian sprint queen Lydia De Vega-Mercado at an early age.
But track officials here believe they have found a De Vega-Mercado-in-the-making after a Filipino-Canadian from Bacolod City powered to two impressive wins in the second day of the Philippine Olympic Festival Visayas Qualifying leg.
Jami Dawn Henares, 15, overwhelmed the field in the 400 meters, clocking a minute and .01 second, then snared another gold in the 200m with a time of 27.2 that caught the attention of Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association technical personnel.
The honor student at Destiny Christian Academy could have been the first triple gold medalist of the games had the charming 5-foot-6 lass ruled the 100m dash the other day.
“I didn’t start well because I wasn’t listening to the starting gun,” said Henares, who lost to Jenelyn Progio of Capiz by a hairline but avenged that defeat in the 200m.
Progio timed 13.435 against Henares’ (13.436) in the 100m.
After ruling the century dash, the 18-year-old Progio went on to bag two more golds in the 100m and 400m hurdles.
“I train her along with La Salle’s (Bacolod) track and field men’s varsity team,” said Frankie Echavarria, Henares’ personal coach.
In all, Capiz took five more golds in athletics.
Joannu Fegarido ruled the boys’ 200m dash, Sharjon Delgado dominated the boys’ 400m hurdles, Hanny Jean Delfin won the 10,000m and Joan Grace Fenitro prevailed in the girls’ shotput for Capiz.
Iloilo struck hard in taekwondo, collecting a total of 19 gold medals, and kept its head high in football, coming back from two goals down to force a 2-2 draw against Cebu.
Christian John Gersanib (finweight), Kevin Cabariban (welter), Keva Labrador (fin), Ryka Bernardo (fly), Ivanna Marie Mabunay (welter), Mario Nepomuceno (bantam), Jon Adjijil (feather), Gabriel Arnigo (fin), Carole Bullon (fin), Rieth Pangham (bantam), Lyn June Salibius (light) scored wins in the juniors division.
Providing the gold for Iloilo in the grade school division were Louvett Uy Deong, Ron Alde Dedoroy, Lester Barcenilla, Nicole Vidallon and Ayanna Benita Galotera.
February 10th, 2008 at 12:47 am
It’s good that Marestella is finally going to US for training. I think what she needs to work on there is more mental preparation and maybe technique. she needs to perform well in her first 2 initial jumps in any competition esp the big ones. I noticed that she jumps only well on her 5th to 6th try. In a world calibre competition she needs to perform her best in her first three jumps, otherwise she misses the next three and gets eliminated and loses her opportunity to prove her worth. She maybe able to push herself further to 6.75meters. Even if she doesn’t make it in the final 8. I am sure alot of world-class athletes and coaches will be analyzing her jump and check how a 5′2″ can leap that far. Her 6.63m in fact is already too much for her height. So let’s see. Just don’t run 12.4 secs in 100m anymore, okay, esp on a big stage like this. Also please avoid injuries by swimming in bet trainings too. Good luck!
February 5th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I’ve really never thought Julius Nierras as a worthy olympic representative even when he won the SEA Games. Back in 80’s I was so used to hearing Del Prado runining low 46 and a 45 secs, and even then these times were just average in olympics but awesome in Asia. In fact the year he did 45.57secs i thought then that this time was the tops in ASIA until his asian nemesis, japanese Susumo Takano did a 44.90 secs in Olympics. So now that we are in 2008, does Mr Go think 46.56 is a really good time in the Olympics? unlike in the Long Jump where there is always a lucky jump factor and the possibilyt that big performers might perform poorly. I hope I don’t need to explain this. But let’s see. Maybe Nierras might run suddenly a 44secs and Dagmil might finally reach 8.05 meters. as I have wished I do not like athletes going there as tokens. It is embarrassing!
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/feb/02/yehey/sports/20080202spo3.html
read this Bong. I don’t think GTK is right saying Nierras was the solid male performer before SEA Games. Nierras was a nobody until he won the gold at the sea games. Dagmil had already proven himself by then.
I dont think it is right the Philippines can send a relay team as a token. Because a relay team has to be in the top 16 in the world to be selected. I seriously doubt any of the Philippine Relay Teams are likely to be in that bracket right now.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I think to arouse interest in track and field locally, they have to pit athletes like some sort of rivalry for people to watch in local competitions. Of course we knew that Elma was never a match for Lydia in 100m way back in 1984 Palarong Pilipino. But since Elma bested Lydia when she was injured in 1983 Palarong Pambansa, the national newspapers then and Channel 4 was pitting these two girls like there was big match way back then. They had TV coverages from semifinals to the finals bet these 2 athletes. Rizal Stadium was jumpacked that time. Mr Pirie this is the reason I was so surprised when Maristella was so apologetic with her win over her teammate Lerma when she beat her in Long Jump 2005 SEA Games. I wasn’t expecting that bec I think it was not good for the sport. I think this sort of rivalry is better than pitting Mr Go Teng Kok vs Mr Cojuangco. Maybe locally they should pit Henry Dagmil against this local guy who also does the triple jump (his best is 7.65, sorry sir I forgot your name). Nierras should be pitted against his 4×400 running mates. If some of them were not running 46 lately maybe they feel being neglected since Nierras is getting a lot of attention with his good performance in 400m in SEA Games…just maybe. But in athletics, the centerpiece really is 100m. I was surprised as a young kid why people who don’t know the sport dont understand why athletes dont run in one straight line as in 200, 400 or 800m like people see in 100m. People easily can relate seeing athletes running in 100meters- the competition here is fast and the winner running at top speed is like seeing a performer in a circus (the way I saw it the first time ;). Appreciating athletics here in the philippines takes some effort. I used to see sportswriters of athletics publishing way back in the 80’s the result of top 8 finalists in their column after the write-up which I hardly see recently(maybe that explains the thin crowd in Rizal). Only USA Today does that and I even had to search the web sometimes to know the complete results of local competitions. Sometimes writers just state that an athlete won without even putting the time or record. It’s like saying Ginebra basketball team won over another team without putting the scores. I think Mr Go should get sponsors to get the competitions even it is a replay or just exerpts of their exploits in an intl competition on TV. In 1983 AAA in Kuwait there was a one hour TV special showing how the Gintong Alay did in Kuwait follwed by how they performed in Chinese Natl Games. Not the entire competition and not live of course but mere excerpts of how these atheltes are making us proud abroad might rouse interests for local viewers; seeing themeselves (the athletes) on TV might actually make them perform better bec they are becoming stars. I don’t know how else we can make athletics popular in this basketball infested Philippines lol.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I’m glad Mr Go Teng Kok is finally holding off his selection for token representatives for athletics in Beijing; but I’m still hoping that our national athletes who are prospects for that very big event will work hard not as token representatives but as legal qualifiers. Lerma Gabito made it in Athens in the long jump; I hope Maristella will strive harder to qualify too in that event and so are Nierras, Dagmil and Atilano in their respective events. I know its a futile exercise for these athletes even to make it there since we know recordwise they might not even land the finals (or top
or eliminated outright in the first or second round. But I hope they perform fighting in the big arena like better their national records there. I’m still disappointed and embarrassed by Maristella’s 12.4 secs in 100m at the World Championships in Tokyo. Have they even conducted a performance trials before they sent her there. I remember when Lydia was sent to the initial staging of the world championships in Helsinki way back in 1983, she was competing and training here against the men’s 100 meters national team and landing 4th against them in performance trials in preparation for that. I hope we can do the same preparation. Of course not exactly as lydia did then since this was in 100m. For long jump mental preparation is very crucial. For hurdles and 400m they have to conduct a lot of performance trials for these aspirants and push them to run faster. Good luck. I just wish the best for them.