Philippineindex.com

DUMAGUETE CITY: London bound swimmer Jessie King Lacuna won five gold medals in the 2012 Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission (POC-PSC) National Games at the Lorenzo Teves Aquatic Center here.

Lacuna, 19, dominated the 100-meters butterfly (59.69-seconds), 200-m individual medley (2:12.41), 400-m freestyle (4:13.0), 1,500-m freestyle (17:33.9) and 200-m freestyle (1:57.1). His lone silver medal came from the 100-m freestyle (55.65) event.

Meanwhile, veteran judoka John Baylon, 47, showed he is still in peak fighting form when he ruled the 90-kilograms class. Baylon disposed young gun CJ San Pedro of De La Salle-Manila in less than 10-seconds in the finals.

“This is my way to help. Although I’m retired as a player I still play with the young ones to teach them. I want them to know that even at any age they can still win,’’ said Baylon. He said that he is now training at the Kodokan in Japan, the central governing body of sport judo, to attain his 6th dan rank. Baylon, a competing judoka for the past 27-years won his first gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in 1991 where he eventually became a nine-time champion.

Another veteran athlete, the 47-year-old archer Jennifer Chan, who took part in the Sydney Olympics, won the gold in the women’s compound open qualification round with 696 points at the City High School in the meet organized by the POC and the PSC, and sponsored by Smart Communications, Summit Mineral Water, Standard Insurance, TV5, AKTV, 2Go, Ayala Corp., Cebu Pacific, Accel, Pocari Sweat, Scratch It Go for Gold, SM Investments, Philippine Star and Puregold Price Club.

She edged National Capital Region’s Amaya Paz Cojuangco (682) and another Olympian Joan Tabanag (652).

In athletics, Felyn Dolloso of Escalante, Negros Occidental, notched 12.55 meters shattering her old national record of 12.53m in junior girls’ triple jump posted during the 2010 Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac City.

Providing amusement in athletics was Jerome Oclaret of Tangub who opted to use bamboo pole instead of a fiberglass pole in the pole vault event of decathlon. Signing a waiver that he personally chose to use the bamboo pole, Oclaret wound up fourth in pole-vault stage but clinched silver medal after completing decathlon’s 10 events with 4,983 points.

Mark Ian Santos of Run for Change bagged the gold medal with a runaway 5,711 points, while his teammate David Mark Madera came in third with 4,910 points.