AMONG the athletes to watch out for in the Palarong Pambansa are outstanding middle-distance runner Jericho Cadag and ace swimmer Jamesray Ajido, who will go for a sweep of their respective events when the 65th edition of the country’s premier school sportsfest opens this Saturday at the Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr. Memorial Stadium in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
Carrying the colors of Calabarzon (Region 4-A) and the city of Dasmarinas, Cadag, 16, completed a golden treble by sweeping the high school boys’ 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter runs and 3,000-meter steeplechase in last year’s Palaro.
“Sana ma-sweep ko ‘yung mga events na napanalo ko sa Cebu last year,” Cadag said in a recent interview on PTV 4 of his aim in the competition organized by the Department of Education and hosted by the province of Ilocos Norte.
Ajido, 16, is returning to the Palaro after missing it last year. Two years back, he competed for Region 4-A , setting a Palaro record in the high school division of the 100-meter butterfly event, according to his mother, Lovell.
The swimmer served a year’s residency before he could compete for the National Capital Region after being recruited by La Salle Greenhills, where he is now an incoming Grade 10 student, the elder Ajido added.
This time, Ajido will target four individual gold and two relay mints, she said, namely, the 50 and 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke events while competing for NCR in the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays
Ajido was the country’s lone gold medalist in last year’s Asian Age-Group Swimming Championships at the New Clark City Aquatic Center in Capas, Tarlac, and the Palaro will serve as a tune-up for his participation in the 47th Southeast Asian Age Group Championships from June 19 to 29 in Singapore, the swimmer’s mother said.
