CONTINUING THEIR quest for glory, the Ateneo Track and Field Teams took to the oval with more admirable feats in Day 2 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 Athletics Tournament. The meet entered its second day of action yesterday, November 23, at the PhilSports Athletics Stadium in the City of Pasig.
The Blue and White nabbed its first four points of the tournament, courtesy of Ateneo Men’s Track and Field Team (AMTFT) stalwart Lucas Lopez’s string of valiant performances since the first day of competition. The Atenean decathlete placed sixth out of 11 participants, garnering a total of 5,238 combined points from all ten events.
In his first event of the day, Lopez dashed to a 16.46-second performance in the 110m hurdles, ranking in the top five. The versatile veteran then finished in the top ten in his next four events. Lopez placed sixth (24.80m) in the discus throw, seventh in both the pole vault (3.30m) and javelin throw (34.82m), and ninth in the 1,500-meter race (5:27.87 minutes).
Moving on to the 200-meter heat events, Atenean tracksters Julian Ramirez, Louise Cabrera, Nash Candelario, Joaquin Ipapo, and Jasha Tan delivered scintillating bursts of speed in their respective heats. On the men’s side, Candelario clocked in a remarkable time of 22.66 seconds, despite barely missing out on a finals berth.
Meanwhile, Ipapo and Ramirez bested their Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) Weekly Relay Qualifying marks, recording 23.08 and 23.25 seconds, respectively. The women’s event saw Tan and Cabrera also put out spirited performances of their own in the women’s 200-meter heats, sprinting to respective times of 28.81 and 29.40 seconds.
Finally, both Ateneo Women’s Track and Field Team (AWTFT) standouts teamed up with Jonathan Reyes and Andres Lorenzo in the mixed 4×400 relay. With a time of 4:15.09, the quartet dashed towards an eighth-place finish. Remarkably, Lorenzo valiantly competed in the race despite sustaining an injury on his left hand during his men’s 100m heat yesterday.
Now on the board in the points column, the Blue Eagles hope to continue their momentum as the Athletics Tournament continues today, November 24, at 1:00 PM at the same venue.
