Earn one-point victory in boys’ cross country

WHILE their female counterparts continue to keep an unblemished record, the boys from Agueda are doing their part and keeping up in the Interscholastic Middle School Cross Country League. In their second meet of the season, the boys squared off against the Astumbo Middle School Dragons and Inarajan Middle School Warriors at the Astumbo campus. At the end of the day, the Pirates left the northern school with two victories after earning a forfeit victory over the Warriors and squeaking by the Dragons 27-28.

With a field of young and fast runners ready to take off at the starting line, fans along the course were filled with anticipation. Needing to run two laps around the campus to complete the 1.5 mile run, both the Dragons and Pirates kept pace with one another as Astumbo’s Karl Almoite and Agueda’s Champ Quinata led the pace for their teams early on. At the end of the first lap, neither team could provide a clear picture as to who would outright win the race.

At the completion of the race, Almoite was first between the two schools to finish as he did so in 9:22. Despite falling behind by almost a minute, Quinata finished in second with a time of 10:19. With the Pirates’ Kenly Magwili coming in two seconds later, the Pirates seemed to gain slight control. However, the Dragons’ John Olandez pushed through the finish line in 10:36 to equalize the score at 5-5 at that point.

The anxiety began to pick up as the next four runners to cross the line alternated with Agueda’s Trevor Tevid (11:13), followed by Astumbo’s Kain Hufalar (11:24), then another Pirate Michael Desingang (11:35). Finishing in eighth was Ricardo Olandez who clocked in at 11:35 as well. With the eight runners across, the Pirates held a slim 17-19 lead.

A winner was to be decided moments later. Astumbo needed the next two runners to finish before another Pirate would cross the finish marker. However, despite Christian Ponce finishing ninth, Agueda’s Matthew Sablan sealed the deal for the Pirates as he became the fifth runner on his team to complete the course and give his team a total of 27 points for the victory.

Other finishers

AIJMS vs. Astumbo
11. Kristopher Galendez (AMS): 12:02
12. Desingaro Joshua (AIJMS): 12:06
13. Donel Pascua (AMS): 12:16
14. Justin Sablan (AIJMS): 13:47
15. Donoven Ybanez (AMS): 13:57
16. Kyle Delos Santos (AMS): 14:26
17. Aydon Abad (AMS): 16:36