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.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Here is an updated list of
Top 10 Juniors for 100m.
11.76 Lydia De Vega-Mercardo 64 New Delhi 27/11/1982 Philippines JR Record
12.11 Elma Muros 67 Palarong Pambansa 1984
12.12 Chantal Issey Balani 82 Manila 2000
12.15 Marestella Torres 20/2/1981 Manila 2000
12.20 Maricor Cuenca 2/01/1988 Sydney 2003 Fil-Australian
12.23 Honey Joy Ortaliz 10/11/1984 Manila 2001
12.40 Breanne Bumanlag 89 Sacramento 8/05/2004 Fil-am
12.42 Krizia Apelar 90 Manila 2004 Fil-am
12.45 Perla Balatucan 1967 Manila 1981
Bong any comments???
November 25th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Bong do you have any advice on pool exercises. Im reintroducing them into my training program.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Bong as for PATAFA sending Gabito. I think it was a good call. Alex was the alternate for the relay anyway. He is an experienced campaigner and has been in many a relay team. Although he is not as fast as he was in his younger days the emphasis is more on the passing of the baton. And the team is comfortable with Alex, whereas if you have a new inexperienced runner passing the baton he is more likely to screw up the change. Look what happened to the womens 4×100 at the last sea games with jizmundo passing to lerma.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:44 am
Bong, Oldman Alex Gabito is 33′ he has been around for 100 years.
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:40 am
Marestella is damn strong over starts, she has beaten me over starts before and i’m a sub 11 100m and a sub 22 200m sprinter. She is really strong she squats about 180kg and can hang clean 60kg in sets of 6. She is one of the strongest females in the country.