BY REYNALD MAGALLON
Central Visayas and National Capital Region dominated the archery competitions with record-breaking performances by their athletes in the 2023 Palarong Pambansa despite the erratic weather conditions at the STII Gold Toe Archery Center.
Naina Dominique Tagle plucked the gold medal after tallying 327 points in the 60-meter girls secondary, bettering the previous mark of 321 first achieved by Charmaine Villamor from Cordillera Administrative Region in 2018 and matched by Chrisha Mae Merto in 2019.
Big City bet Guillana Venice Garcia settled for silver with 313 points while Central Luzon archer Ivory Faith Novesteras copped the bronze with 312.
It was Tagle’s fourth gold in this year’s edition after also ruling the 50m event, 30m, and the 1440 round. She nailed the gold in 50m with a 307 points showing and in 30m with a 338 points to amass a total of 1278 points.
Hoping to follow the footsteps of sister Nicole, who was already a silver medalist in the Southeast Asian Games in 2017 and former Palaro teammate Phoebe Amistoso, Tagle shrugged off the muddy field and foul weather to keep her winning ways in Palaro.
“It’s raining so very muddy and the environment affects a lot of our shots but I feel like, as long as we have the right spirit we’ll be fine. It bothered me but I recovered and then yun okay na,” said the Siliman University standout who already participated in Palaro back in her elementary days.
The Big City bet Garcia stopped Tagle’s win streak by copping the gold in the newly introduced 70m event in the girls category with a record-setting 310 points, just four points ahead of Tagle.
Denelyn Villagracia ended up with the bronze on 301.
Records also sank in the pool over at the Marikina Sports Center with Quendy Fernandez etching her name to Palaro record books for the second time in this edition.
Fernandez, who hailed from Calabarzon, reigned supreme in the girls secondary 50m backstroke with a time of 30.67 seconds, besting the previous record of 31.34s set in by Samantha Coronel in 2019.
Western Visayas swimmer Jennuel Booh De Leon glided through the water and clocked 26.78, two and a half seconds clear of the previous Palaro record of 29.18 in the men’s secondary 50m backstroke. He also took home the gold in the 100m freestyle after clocking in 53.68sec.
Meanwhile, Airex Gabriel Villanueva,also from Western Visayas ruled the discus throw with a record-breaking heave of 42.83m.
Villanueba and De Leon record success highlighted the huge haul from Western Visayas which leapfrogged both NCR and Calabarzon for the top spot of the medal tally as of 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Western Visayas already amassed 26 golds, 19 silvers and 11 bronzes.
Defending champion NCR slid to second place with 22 golds, 26 silvers and 20 bronzes while Calabarzon, which topped the tally in the second day fell to third place with 21 golds, 26 silvers and 21 bronzes.
