SAN JUAN, Ilocos Sur–While the National Capital Region swept the basketball titles, including the coveted secondary boys' cage crown, four Philippine junior records were set as the 2018 Palarong Pambansa came to a close here.
Batang Gilas standout Terrence Fortea led with 28 points, while Most Valuable Player Gerry Abadiano added 24 points for the Big City cagers as they swamped Davao Region, 100-80, to clinch their fourth straight secondary boys' basketball honors at the San Juan municipal gymnasium.
A fourth national junior mark late Friday in secondary boys' athletics was broken after the Western Visayas squad of Vince Buhayan, John Christian Mediano, Kennard Alarba and Jeffrey Albania clocked 42.44 seconds in the 4×100 meter relays.
They outpaced Region XI and the Veruel Veradero-led Region IV-A in surpassing the hand-timed 43-second performance of Jonathan Lim, Oliver Ocampo, Isidro del Prado Jr. and John Rey Vicente in the 2008 National Open.
Buhayan and company also eclipsed last year's Palaro record of 42.48 seconds set by Verdadero and another batch of teammates from Region Region IV-A last year.
The national junior records that were surpassed throughout the week were also done by Region IV-A sprinters Eliza Cuyom and Veruel Verdadero, along with javelin thrower Ann Katherine Quitoy.
Cuyom went below the 15-second mark set by Julie Rose Forbes during the 2000 National Open with her clocking of 14.5 seconds. In doing so, she erased the meet record of 14.9 seconds set by Michelle Pastasaja of Western Mindanao in 1996.
Quitoy, who is from Bacolod, hurled the standard 600-gram spear to a record-smashing distance of 45.72 meters. This surpassed the existing national junior mark of 45.74 meters that Fil-Heritage athlete Cerah Moren did last year in a United States track meet in San Mateo, California.
Verdadero's clocking of 10.55 seconds eclipsed the national junior mark of 10.6 seconds that Julio Bayaban set in the 1979 National Open and also bettered the 10.75 seconds of Feberoy Kasi of Southern Mindanao Region.
NCR took charge early, with Abadiano, a member of last year's team, hitting 13 points, including two treys in the first period.
His efforts allowed NCR to move out of range with their 33-24 spread after the first 10 minutes.
Fortea struck with another 13 points in the second period and unloaded three treys that allowed NCR to completely control the match with their 68-35 halftime lead.
Big man Carl Tamayo scored 12 points for NCR, which stayed ahead, 83-55 at the end of the third. Aljay Alloso shot 22 points for Davao, which is made up mostly of players from Holy Child School, while Vince Cuajao provided 17 points.
“Maganda ang nilaro nila sa first half. Na-control namin si Alloso at Cuajao,” said NCR coach Goldwin Monteverde.
NCR also took the secondary girls' honors at the expense of Western Visayas and the elementary boys' crown after prevailing over Western Visayas, 65-59.
NCR banked on Horiel Flores, who unloaded five long-range shots that earned the Metro Manila cagers the first 3×3 gold medal over Ilocos Region, 21-19 at the Quirino Stadium open courts.
Overall, NCR captured a total of 100 golds, 70 silvers and 50 bronze medals to claim the championship for a 13th straight year since the medal tally and the point system were introduced.
Meanwhile, Northern Mindanao won five of 10 golds at stake in boxing, with Jericho Acaylar taking the crown in the pinweight, Lesley Caga topping the lightweight finals and John Palivinio dominating the flyweight side. Bryan Caspe and John Odivinia ruled the bantamweight and the light bantamweight action, respectively.
Kier Napolitano led NCR to a 1-0 win over Socsargen for the secondary football plum.
Metro Manila athletes made their presence felt in the secondary boys' badminton, with Lance Zafra topping the singles' finals over Lyrden Laborte of Region IV-A.
Mikaela Joy de Guzman ruled the girls' singles, while Region 4-A's Jochelle Alvarez is the runner up.
A total of 46 meet records were smashed, according to Department of Education undersecretary and Palaro chairman Tonisito, the most in the history of the Games.
He said that in order to get the new records set and recognized as national marks, they will have to update to digital or electronic timers next year.
