Ilagan City—Philippine Army trooper Richard Salaño proved that his first-day dominance was no fluke as he grabbed his second gold medal, this time in the 10,000-meter run, in the second day of the 2018 Ayala Philippine Athletics Championships yesterday at the Ilagan City Sports Complex here on Friday.
Following his gold-medal conquest in men’s 3000 meter steeple chase on Thursday, the Private First Class Salaño left his peers in the dust by clocking in 32 minutes and 30.67 seconds to finish the long distance run more than a minute faster than the Baguio runners Erwin Generalao (33:48:48) and Cesar Castaneto (34:32:05).
“Pet event ko ito na talagang pinaghandaan ko sa Baguio,” said the Marilao, Bulacan native. “Nag-training po kami ng two months para dito.”
The 5’4” Salaño and other military athletes were toughened by the high-altitude training under Coronel Antonio John Divinigracia, who also won a bronze medal in the master’ 400 meter run.
With the impressive run so far in the five-day athletics’ spectacle, Salaño finally stepped closer to his goal of making the national team after getting a thumbs-up from the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association Secretary General Reynato Unso, who will recommend him to the national training pool.
“Magandang balita po ‘yun kasi matagal-tagal ko ng inaasam ‘yun. Simula noong nasa nag-college ako sa UE,” said the former Red Warriors.
Salaño shoots for a third gold in the 5,000-meters in the last day of the athletics showcase presented by Ayala Corp. and the City of Ilagan, with support from Milo, the Philippine Sports Commission, Foton, Cocolife, Rebisco and F2 Logistics.
“Pipilitin natin madagdagan pa ang medalya,” he vowed.
Meanwhile, another Army personnel in Aillene Tolentino got the veteran Christabel Martes’ number anew after snatching the gold in the women’s 1, 500-meter run.
Tolentino clocked in 4:52:55 to win the gold over Martes (5:12:78) of Team Baguio and Martin Hing William (5:36:63) of Malaysia.
It was Martes’ second setback in the tournament after losing his pet event, the 10,000-meter run to Dichoso on Thursday.
Fresh from his 10K run title conquest in the Philippine National Games last week in Cebu City, Martes ran out of steam in the first eight laps and didn’t manage to finish the race.
On the other hand, Sri Lankan R.A.D Hemantha Kumara owned the men’s 1,500-meters with a time of 3:57:55, while Edwin Jiron of Dasmarinas City stamped his class in the boys’ 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:05:73.
In girls’ high jump, Ateneo De Manila University Alexie Mae Caimoso soared for the gold medal by tallying 1.65 meters, just five centimeters short of the 1.69-meter national record of Kaylene Mosqueda in 2016.
In the women’s 10,000-meter walk, Run Rio – University of the Philippines bet Maria Elizabeth Capioso scored a tough gold-medal win following a long time of 1:07:00:08. She overcame pesky rivals Diana Jaspher Cadlaon (1:08:55:48) of Adamson and Ellen Tolentino (1:09:13:77) of Philippine Army.
As of writing time, top Filipino sprinters Eric Cray and Anthony Trenten Beram are set to hit the track as heavy favorites in the centerpiece men’s 200-meter run.
Also still in the fold is Olympian and four-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Marestella Torres-Sunang, who is aching to reign supreme anew in the women’s long jump.