ROXAS CITY --- Fresh victories in athletics, taekwondo, gymnastics, lawn tennis and chess yesterday ensured Negros Occidental's safe ride to the summit of both elementary and secondary divisions at the close of the Western Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet here.

All told, the Negros athletes formally clinched the overall crown in the elementary division with 360.5 championship points, highlighted by a sweep of athletics, badminton, chess, volleyball and lawn tennis, where the boys' team was declared the co-titlist with Iloilo. It was a sweet revenge for the Negrenses, who lost the overall title to Iloilo by two golds last year when the Games were held in Iloilo City. The Ilonggos logged 310.5 points for second place, followed by host Capiz (127), Antique (110), Aklan (76) and Guimaras (51).

Despite losing the secondary athletics championships and the finals in basketball, Negros was hardly threatened in the overall race yesterday and retained its title, after tallying a total of 432.5 points with Iloilo a far second with 332 points.

Capiz showed significant improvement as it registered 205 points, good for third place, while Aklan (107.5), Antique (79.5) and Guimaras (65.5) round out the competition.

The winners will represent Western Visayas in the 2006 Palarong Pambansa tentatively set on the second week of May in Naga City.

SEVEN GOLDS FOR SWIMMER

Emerging as the meet's most outstanding athlete was swimming star Kiefer Piccio of the University of St. La Salle , who collared seven golds in the elementary boys' contest. Brylle Anjo Mabus and Joshua Balinas were also multiple-gold winners.

Also coming up big for Negros were tankers Krestia Angela Lacson of St. Scholastica's Academy --- a winner of five golds and two silvers --- as well as Bago's Raffy Hechanova and Miguel Villanueva of USLS, who both topped three individual events and were members of two winning relay teams. Hechanova and Villanueva also had two silvers each.

ATHLETICS, TOO

Spearheading the Negros romp in elementary athletics were quadruple-gold winners Jesrael Bayotas of Escalante City and Gwendolyn Narciso of Bago. Negros won the boys' crown with 135 points, following a sweep of the relay events yesterday.

Apart from Narciso's heroics, the elementary girls' title was a collective effort with Ana Joy Mugar (high jump), Maica de Oro (discus throw), Rose Anne Secafero (100-m hurdles), Bemi Rose Lanado (javelin throw), Marjorie Rosales (800-m), Jona Chan (shotput) and Connie Broce (100-m) all ruling their respective events.

As expected, reigning Palarong Pambansa sprint king Emmanuel de Ocampo of Victorias won the secondary boys' 100-m and 200-m events, while Rey Dennis Bacay of Binalbagan topped his favorite events --- discus throw and shotput.

Bago athletes Ana Mae Dionela and Josie Entrina also grabbed two golds each but it was not enough to stop the Iloilo onslaught in the secondary girls' athletics competition.

GYMNASTICS, RHYTHMICS

In gymnastics, Negros ruled the WAG and rhythmic events on top of the boys' crown for a combined 45 points, while the elementary team managed to win one of three titles disputed.

Led by Martina Guba and Gerard Bergavera, the netters from La Carlota City and Negros Occidental High School also joined hands to win both the boys and girls' secondary lawn tennis crowns.

La Salle 's Joel Pimentel and Ma. Jeniffer Racion ruled Board 1 in the secondary boys and girls' chess tilt, respectively, as they stood at the forefront of Negros' romp. In the elementary division, Jerich Cajeras and Adelaide Lim won the boys and girls' events, respectively.

In secondary table tennis. Stephen Timson and Noah Trayco booked a 1-2 finish in boys' singles, before Trayco teamed up with Judy Tiongco to top the mixed doubles events.

Judy Mae Iso took the girls' singles crown, ensuring that the full 30 championship points in the event will go to Negros.

Action in the elementary level saw Ronald Benedict Mate and Benjie Lyn Dayap top the boys and girls' singles competitions, respectively.

The Negros pugilists shared top honors with the rugged brawlers representing Aklan in boxing, where Negrenses Gerson Nietes and Alfred Alfred Balilitan won the 36 kg and 38 kg divisions.

GOLDS IN TAEKWONDO

In taekwondo, Negros Taekwondo Union standouts carried the fight for the province with finweight Kirstine Chua, flyweight Crystal Pauline Reyes, bantam Yvony Palicte, featherweight Ma. Angela Alindogan and welterweight Rubylyn Mapa winning gold medals.

In the boys' division, Negros bets Robert Tambanillo topped the finweight category, while Meynard Marticio and John Robert Burbano winning the bantam and featherweight golds, respectively.

Bacoleño Tedjay Ibañez was the lone gold winner in the elementary boys' tilt after winning the 4'6"-4'9" category, while Louise Dedase and Kristel Joy Kwan reigned supreme in the 4'9"-5'0" and 4'3"-4'6" divisions.

In basketball, Iloilo leaned on the heroics of Escalante City-born cager Jomel Chien, whose steal sealed the Ilonggos' 68-65 win over Negros Occidental before a big crowd at the Capiz gymnasium yesterday.

Trailing 67-65 with 10 seconds left, Negros designed a play for Ian Gabriel Villanueva to attack the basket but Chien stripped the ball off the Negros guard.

Negros missed two key players but gamely battled the Ilonggos, whose 38-28 halftime lead shrunk to 3 points heading into the fourth period as Villanueva and John Michael Noble turned the pressure up a notch. Villanueva and Noble paced Negros with 15 points each. *CPT

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