By REYNALD MAGALLON
CAPAS, Tarlac – Going back to their roots for the first time proved memorable and rewarding.
That’s because Fil-foreign athletes Marc Brian Louis and Jessica Laurance bested their respective rivals to emerge King and Queen of sprint in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the New Clark City Stadium here, Friday, May 2.
The 22-year-old Fil-Australian sprinter Laurance who is running for Pinoy Athletics, clocked 11.76 seconds to take the gold medal – certainly enough to attract attention as she hopes to get a shot at representing the country in the Southeast Asian Games.
“I am hoping to get to the SEA Games. I don’t know if I am qualified or not but that is my goal to come to the Philippines and represent the country for SEA Games so hopefully I get selected for that,” said Laurance adding that she is already a passport holder.
It was now the second medal for Laurance after finishing second behind national team member Kristina Knott in the women’s 200m race the day before.
Knott, however, did not participate in the 100m, likely as a precautionary measure after sustaining a bad fall at the end of her 200m race.
Louis, who is representing Singapore, won the gold at the hometown of his mother after clocking10.45 seconds – narrowly beating 200m gold medalist and aspiring national team member Miguel Anthony Rosario of FilAm Sports who clocked 10.53s.
“It’s a good experience at the start of the season so it’s good to race against fast people and just get the competition that I need,” said Louis.
Lian Pama, a graduating star of the University of Santo Tomas, bagged the silver in the century dash with an 11.98s time while Hannah Delotavo of T.A.F.T. got the bronze after timing 12.25s while the third place in the men’s race was from Singapore Daryl Tan who recorded 10.62s.
Meantime, former SEA Games representative Elijah Cole of the FilAm Sport cleared 5.25m to claim the gold medal in the men’s pole vault. He beat Taiwanese counterparts Huyang Cheng Chi and Wu Yan Han who bagged the silver and bronze respectively after both clearing 5.20m.
In shot put, national team member William Morrison heaved 18.81 to bag the gold over Malaysian foes who finished second and third. Ronnie Malipay, likewise ruled the triple jump after leaping 15.77m.
