Athletes fuel Cordillera to medal haul in nat’l Palaro

By Georaloy I. Palao-ay

SAN JOSE, Antique - Bagging medals in arnis, taekwondo, archery, wushu, athletics, wrestling, and improved finishes by its team sports, Team Cordillera came out stronger than ever with 26 gold, 21 silver, and 21 bronze medals surpassing its medal haul in the past three years.

Clinching 5th runner-up finish this time around in the biggest sports event backed by the Dept. of Education, the team bounced back far from its dismal 9th place in last year’s outing with only 12 gold, 19 silver, and 15 bronze medals.

Kick starting the harvest for medals this year was Eza Rai C. Yalong with a gold in the Arnis secondary girls’ Individual Likha Anyo. Yalong was also the first gold medalist in last year’s Palarong Pambansa in Albay Province. Adding the most number of gold medals in the secondary level is Charmaine Angela B. Villamor with four gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze in archery. Villamor. Likewise, broke records in the 40 meters, 50 meters, and 60 meters distances.

For ending the drought in athletics and garnering three golds and one silver, Jeremiah Hipol is this year’s most bemedalled elementary athlete edging taekwondo jin Rain B. Ramon who also contributed three gold medals.

Baguio City athletes contributed a total of 24 golds, 19 silvers and 17 bronzes while Benguet pitched in one gold and one bronze. Mountain Province also added two bronze medals; Apayao, one bronze medal; Ifugao, one silver medal; Kalinga, one silver medal and Tabuk City, one gold medal.

Meanwhile in the Special events, Baguio contributed two silver medals courtesy of Jeremiah Tundagui in the 400-meter dash and long jump. In Demonstration Sports, both Mt. Province’s Jilliam Spade K. Oya-oy and Benguet’s Islay Erika A. Bomogao garnered silver medals in Pencak Silat, a martial arts discipline which debuted in this year’s Palaro.

On the other hand, the most improved team sports is the secondary softball girls landing 5th place overall after defeating the teams of Central Visayas, MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, and Davao.

“Although we ranked sixth, this is our biggest medal haul over the past three years. We are most elated also because we improved a lot from our rank last year and from this year’s experience we hope to put in place more interventions to strengthen our participation to this annual activity,” said DepEd OIC Regional Director Beatriz G. Torno.             

The DepEd official added that there will be a two to three days assessment or post conference of DepEd CAR officials, coaches and working committees to determine best practices as well as thresh out lapses or problems for improvement. 

In 2014, Team Cordillera landed 5th place with 24 gold, 11 silver, and 12 bronze medals. The following year, the team ranked 4th with a total of 24 gold, 22 silver, and 16 bronze medals.