Trixia Arellano struck gold once again as Western Visayas' barefoot runner, while Cris Ivan Domingo of Metro Manila showed his dominance in the 100-m dash of the Palarong Pambansa.
Trixia Arellano ran without shoes anew, and yielded a golden result yet again.
Just a day after celebrating her 11th birthday and breaking the Palaro’s 200-meter record, Arellano delivered another golden barefoot run in the medal rounds of Elementary Girls’ 100-meter run during the 65th Palarong Pambansa in Laoag, Ilocos Norte on Wednesday, May 28.
The pride of Region VI clocked in 12.84 seconds, 0.15 milliseconds faster than eventual silver medalist Dale Jayne Tagalog of Region X (12.99) as bronze winner Mary Anthonette Delos Santos of Region X delivered a 13.09-second performance.
Earlier, Arellano clocked 26.4 seconds to break the 2008 record of 26.7 set by Maureen Emily Schrijvers in the 200-meter dash. She edged Delos Santos, who settled for silver with a 26.71-second finish, and Tagalog, who claimed bronze in 26.86 seconds.
Not to be outdone, Cris Ivan Domingo of NCR continued his historic run.
Domingo followed his record-breaking 400-meter dash victory with an nail-biting win in the Elementary Boys’ 100-meter dash. He finished with a time of 12.04 seconds, clobbering Region III’s Tajh Marshall (12.12) and Region XI’s Johnny Tabale (12.14), who completed the podium.
In secondary events, NCR continued to flex its sprinting muscle as Jeralyn Rodriguez (12.05 seconds) and Pi Durden Forward Wangkay (10.82 seconds) secured back-to-back gold medals in the girls’ and boys’ 100-meter dashes, respectively.
Wangkay won a close race after fending off Kian Labar of Region VI (10.84) and Joel Platon of the CALABARZON team (11.02). Rodriguez, on the other hand, ruled the women's competition despite her teammate Lhynette Labranda (12.20) and Region VI's Angel Villagracia (12.39) presenting tough challenges.
Meanwhile, in the 400m hurdles, Region XII’s Keian Angelo Penaso and Region VI’s Eda Mae Arceo bagged gold in the elementary boys’ and girls’ divisions.
Penaso clocked in 1:01.09 to narrowly defeat silver medalist Vince Racelis of the CALABARZON region, who finished at 1:01.84. The bronze went to Ericson Coca of Region XIII with a time of 1:02.36.
In the women’s race, Arceo finished in 1:08.23, just ahead of compatriot Zia Gomez, who crossed the line at 1:08.40 as Airah Abad of the Caraga squad completed the podium with a time of 1:10.00.
At the secondary level, Mico Villaran of Region VI and Jecel Vivas of Region VIII emerged victorious in their respective 400m hurdles events, continuing their regions’ strong performances in the hurdles.
Villaran beat NCR’s Ivan Cabanda by the skin of his teeth, posting a winning time of 53.52 seconds to edge out Cabanda’s 54 seconds with Julius Valdenarro of Region IV-A claiming the bronze with a time of 54.96 ticks.
In the women’s event, Vivas cleared the hurdles ahead of Eastern Visayas' Shiena Sarsonas (1:02.87) and CALABARZON's Lorraine Batalla (1:03.69), clocking a gold-winning time of 1:02.17 seconds.