DAY THREE of Season 77 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) track and field championships was jam-packed with a lot of excitement from our Blue and Lady Tracksters. Personal bests were showering from event in and event out. However, the opposition provided a rough challenge for our intrepid tracksters as the medal drought for this year’s UAAP for both teams continues.
Blue Tracksters
The 400m dash was the only individual event for the Blue Tracksters during the third day of the competition. Co-captain Maki De Jesus and sophomore Miguel Guevara were the team’s entries for the said event.
De Jesus and Guevara are known to specialize in the 400m dash as both sprinters have been consistently registering fast times all throughout the season.
However, Guevara was just a few milliseconds away from qualifying after registering a time of 51.25 seconds in the qualifying round. This time merited him ninth place in the qualifying rounds. He was going head-to-head with De La Salle University’s (DLSU) Ico Ejercito in the home stretch of the race. Had Guevara overtaken Ejercito, Guevara would have qualified for the finals.
De Jesus managed to qualify for the finals with a time of 50.27 seconds. He ranked fourth in the qualifying rounds, having been beaten by DLSU’s Michael Del Prado in the heats.
An hour and a half later came the finals of the men’s 400m dash, where De Jesus was in lane six and was as pumped up as ever to run the 400m. The field had an explosive start and De Jesus kept up with the top sprinters. He showed no signs of fading coming into the back curve and even had some gas left in the tank come the last 150m.
Horror struck in the last 50m as lactic acid worked its way up to De Jesus’ body. This gave DLSU’s Del Prado a chance to capitalize on this situation as he did the heats. It was a close fight between the two come the last 15m, with De Jesus finishing in fourth place.
There was no time to sulk as the final of the men’s 4x100m relay was up next an hour after the men’s 400m finals. De Jesus had to cool down to remove the lactic acid and immediately warm up again to join his relay partners.
The Blue Tracksters’ 4x100m relay team consisted of rookie Rabbi Villanueva, Co-captain Joel Magturo, De Jesus and supersenior JB Capinpin. This was their first time competing in this order with Villanueva because of the absence of sophomore Vinch Cuevas due to a hamstring tear. Cuevas was the original last runner, with Capinpin being the original first runner.
Despite the change in the lineup, it was still a strong 4x100m team, with Villanueva being known for his explosive start off the blocks.
At gun start, Villanueva went head-to-head with the UAAP’s top starters and managed to cleanly pass the baton to Magturo.
Magturo ran a beautiful backstretch with him chasing down DLSU from the outer lane. A clean pass was made to De Jesus as he burned down the track in the back curve. De Jesus has been known for his fast curve sprinting and this worked in Ateneo’s favor.
The third runners from the University of the Philippines, the Far Eastern University and Ateneo passed the baton almost at the same time to their respective last runners.
It was a near perfect pass, but Capinpin managed to get hold of the baton as he sprinted to the finish. However, signs of fatigue became more evident as he competed in the men’s triple jump hours before the competition. The supersenior is also fresh from the grueling men’s decathlon just a few days ago. DLSU’s Tanhueco chased down Capinpin, and the Blue Tracksters’ 4x100m relay team finished in fourth place.
A few moments after the race, the Blue Tracksters’ relay team was met with applause and praise from the entire Ateneo crowd after a valiant effort and an excellent show of sportsmanship.
Heptathlon
Ateneo’s Vanessa Baguiwet competed in the 100m hurdles that was the first event of the women’s heptathlon. She exploded from the start, but her leg managed to clip the fourth hurdle. This caused her to crash and she finished with 22.03 seconds.
She managed to register 1.37m in the high jump that kept her intentions for the podium finish alive.
In the third event, Baguiwet dominated the shot put with her throw of 10.07m that catapulted her back into the top eight. She was also switching from competing in the heptathlon and the women’s individual discus throw.
The final event, the 200m dash, happened an hour after the women’s shot put. Baguiwet finished third in her heat with a decent time of 28.07 seconds.
It was a strong effort from Baguiwet as she competed in a total of six events in day three of the competition. This included all four events of the heptathlon, one individual event and one relay event.
After day one of the heptathlon, Baguiwet finished with a total aggregate score of 1,915 points, placing her in ninth place.
Lady Tracksters
The only entry the Lady Tracksters had for the women’s 400m dash was sophomore Hannah Malate. Rookie Kim Zulueta was not put in the race, as she was needed more for the 4x100m relay later on in the day.
Malate ran a good first 100 meters and managed to get into a good cruise come the backstretch. However, signs of fatigue came about too early as she started fading away before reaching the last 150m of the race. She finished with a time of 1:08.68, ranking 19th in the qualifying round.
Football and track and field double varsity Julia Sucgang was up next as she competed in the women’s 3,000m racewalk. She held on tightly to the lead pack but slowly faded away as her competitors were more experienced in the event. This was Sucgang’s first time competing in the 3,000m distance.
She ranked eighth coming with three laps to go but managed to chase down DLSU’s Subaste in the last two laps. Sucgang managed to finish in seventh place with a time of 22:06.86.
In the field events, Baguiwet was switching between competing in the women’s heptathlon and competing in the women’s individual discus throw. The discus throw happened in between the heptathlon’s shot put and the 200m.
It was a strong field as former discus thrower of the UAAP and Palarong Pambansa medalists were present in the field. Baguiwet ranked eighth in the final result with a throw of 32.10m.
The final event of the evening for the Lady Tracksters was the 4x100m relay. The team fielded supersenior Tricia Severino, sophomore Georgia Martelino, senior heptathlete Baguiwet and rookie Kim Zulueta.
The relay teams of University of Santo Tomas (UST), University of the East (UE) and DLSU all exploded from the blocks that gave Severino a hard time to catch up. She was still able to pass the baton successfully to Martelino.
Martelino ran a good backstretch but with UST, UE and DLSU clearly pulling away from everyone. Another clean pass was made from Martelino to Baguiwet as she was slightly chased by Adamson University and UP in the back curve.
However, Zulueta ran a fast homestretch sprint and chased down UP and AdU, eventually carrying the team to a fourth place finish. The Lady Tracksters’ 4x100m relay team finished with a time of 51.01 seconds–a full two seconds away from third place finisher UE.
Catch the Blue and Lady Tracksters on their last day of competition on December 10 starting at 7:00 AM for the morning session. The afternoon session will start at 2:00 PM. The venue will still be in Ultra, Pasig.
