■ Ofelia C. Empian
Young athletes from La Trinidad topped this year’s Benguet provincial sports meet with 206 gold, 102 silver, and 74 bronze medals held on Feb. 28 to March 2 at Benguet Sports Complex and other venues.
Perennial champion La Trinidad bagged almost half of the total medalhaul courtesy of its elementary athletes with 70-41-29 me-dals and the secondary with 136-61-45 medals in the yearly event.
Tuba reclaimed its first runner-up position, rising from its fifth runner-up finish last year, with 61-67-57 me-dals showcasing its strength in the reincluded swimming events.
This year’s surprising comeback is Tublay garnering 38-30-39 medals placing them on se-cond runner-up from its eighth runner-up position last year.
The town showed strong performances in arnis, combative sports, allied sports, and other individual events, according to the Benguet Schools Division Office.
Last year’s se-cond runner-up Mankayan, slid to its third runner-up finish with 33-65-63 medals ruling in the elementary baseball and performed well in gymnastics and in other team sports.
Itogon, last year’s first runner-up, followed with 28-34-60 medals, as fourth runner-up performing well in the athletics and ball games while on fifth runner-up is Buguias with 21-28-61 medals owing it to its performances in Muay Thai, wrestling, and other combative sports.
Kapangan is sixth runner-up with 17-18-23 medals; Atok is seventh runner-up with 13-11-23 medals; and Sablan is eighth runner-up with 11-12-6 medals.
Benguet State University is ninth runner-up with 9-6-10 medals courtesy of its win in taekwondo, secondary girl futsal and allied sports, while Kibungan followed as 10th runner-up with 8-22-42 medals; and Kabayan as 11th runner-up with 8-3-6 medals.
Bokod is the 12th runner-up with 5-42-31 medals while the 13th runner-up Bakun 4-0-9 medals during sports meet in preparation for the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association Meet next month.
Apayao will play host to the regional sports meet involving the best athletes from the six provinces and two cities of the Cordillera in April.
