Patrick Unso ran a season-best 14.27 seconds to top the 110-meter hurdles during the first performance tryouts held recently at the Philsports track oval.
The time, however, remains slower than the 14.12 seconds Unso posted in taking the bronze two years ago in the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
Unso, son of former Gintong Alay star Renato Unso, also upstaged his fellow national teammates in the century dash, clocking 10.74 seconds.
The next time trials will be held on June 3, the day before the 30-strong team composed of athletes and coaches fly to Hong Kong for a seven-week intensive training at the HK Sports Institute (HKSI).
The HKSI training is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Ayala Corp. and the UCPBGEN.
A total of 17 athletes have so far made the grade for the Games, including defending gold medalists Eric Cray, Christopher Ulboc Jr. and Kayla Richardson.
PATAFA President Philip Ella Juico expressed satisfaction with the results of the performance trials.
“Essentially, most of our athletes who took part in the performance trials improved their personal bests (PBs). That’s a good enough indication that we are headed towards the right direction,” Juico said. “I credit this good showing by our athletes to our hardworking national coaches, together with our foreign full time consultant coach Rohsaan Griffin of the US.”
Griffin was a US track and field standout during the 90s. He was a member of the 1997 US world indoor championship team in the world championships where he finished fourth in the 200-meter event.
Griffin qualified for the 1999 US world championship team and took part in the 1996 and 2000 US Olympic trials.
Prior to being invited by Juico to help guide the Philippine team, Griffin, 43, coached sprinters from the Trinidad and Tobago and the Ivory Coast to the Olympics and world championships respectively. He finished fourth at the 200m event of the World Championships in 1997.
