ATHLETICS chief Terry Capistrano would feel “terribly disappointed” if the national team fails to surpass its five gold haul in last year’s 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Game in the next edition in Cambodia barely six weeks away.
Capistrano, who took over last year as president of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, made his personal assessment after watching the national athletes as well as their potential rivals in the just-concluded ICSTI Philippine Athletics Championships in Ilagan, Isabela.
“Given what I have seen in our National Open, I would feel terribly disappointed if we don’t surpass our tally of five golds in Vietnam,” he said.
Despite the limited training and overseas exposure due to the pandemic, the country’s track and field campaigners still mustered a respectable haul of five gold, seven silver and 14 bronze medals in the Vietnam Games.
Those who delivered the mints were pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, shot putter Willie Morrison III, men’s 400-meter hurdles king Eric Shawn Cray, two-time men’s 110-meter hurdles SEA Games champion Clinton Kingsley Bautista and sprinter Kayla Richardson, who won her second gold medal in the women’s century dash.
The influx of new talents, including US-based athletes who made their debut in Ilagan, and the resurgence of homegrown talents led Capistrano to believe that exceeding the track and field medal tally in Vietnam a year ago was feasible.
Among the “Fil-heritage” athletes, as Patafa secretary general Edward Kho refers to them, who made their mark for the first time in donning the national colors were Umajesty Williams, Angel Frank, Lauren Hoffmann and Elijah Cole, who were all brought and scouted by former PH pole vaulter and Barcelona Olympic Games veteran Edward Lasquete.
Williams had a stellar run in the men’s 400-meters and a silver in the 200-meter run despite a hamstring injury while Hoffmann also had a gold and silver in the women’s 400-meter and 100-meter hurdles, respectively.
Frank emerged as a runaway winner in her lone event, the women’s 400-meter run, while Cole outduelled hometown bet Hokett delos Santos in a riveting contest for the men’s pole vault crown, sealing his ticket to the Cambodia SEA Games.
Capistrano said they are moving heaven and earth so that Frank and Hoffman could acquire Philippine passports in time for the Cambodia meet to add greater depth to the national team and boost its gold-medal prospects.
National head coach Jojo Posadas said the presence of Hoffmann and Robyn Brown, who holds the national record in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and placed second to the former in Ilagan, could enhance the national team in the women’s 4×400-meter relays.
There was also promising developments among the local athletes, with heptathlon star Sarah Dequinan securing two golds, the other in the women’s long jump, and a silver in the javelin throw.
Dequinan, who ruled the event in the 2019 Philippine Games but settled for silver last year in Vietnam, is keen on recapturing the heptathlon gold in Cambodia and is tweaking some of her events to boost her prospects.
Also emerging as a top gold medal contender is Janry Ubas, who won the men’s long jump title in 7.84 meters, which was four centimeters better than the 7.80 set by Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Truong in Hanoi last year.
National marathon coach Eduardo “Vertek” Buenavista said that marathon runners Christine Hallasgo and Richar Salano should also be in the conversation of top mint prospects in Cambodia.
