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Long jump queen Marestella ready to return to SEA Games, win again

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Manolo Pedralvez

Still spry and springy at 41, will there be a swan song for veteran long jumper Marestella Sunang-Torres — and possibly even a podium finish — at the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May?Displaying vintage form, Sunang built a case for her inclusion to the national team Sunday in ruling her pet event with a jump of 6.11 meters at the end of the Milo-PATAFA Performance and Time Trials for the 31st SEA Games at the Imus Sports Complex in Imus city, Cavite. Showing flashes that made her a 4-time Southeast Asian Games long jump queen, she made it on her second jump, gaining revenge over younger rival Katherine Kay Santos, 31, who settled for 2nd with a mediocre jump of 5.80 meters. Abcde Agamos (5.49) was 3rd.Although both jumped 6.11 meters, the comebacking Santos had beaten her illustrious rival from San Jose town, Negros Oriental on the countback in the Ayala Philippine Athletic Championships in Baguio City last December.“Masayo ako sa talon ko. Naging maganda ang fitness and conditioning ko (I am happy with my jumps. My fitness and conditioning was fine),” said Sunang of her improvement of 5 centimeters over her past performance in the Pines City over 2 months ago, which was a belated birthday gift to herself after turning 41 last February 20.This was still short of the qualifying bronze-medal standard of 6.16 meters in the last 2019 SEA Games athletic competition held at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium in Capas, Tarlac, although national jump coach Joebert Delicano said that Sunang was slowly getting there.Delicano said the athlete’s result last December was the product of barely 2 months of training after a long layoff due to the COVID0-19 pandemic so “parang hinog sa pilit (ripened by force). Our focus at that time was fitness and conditioning.”Given the athlete’s age, Delicano disclosed that they had to tweak Sunang’s training program with longer recovery periods between performances and cutting her strides from 20 to 18 before take-off to maintain the spring in her legs.“We have been making these adjustments through trial and error given Marestella’s age. But it seems to be working. Our early goal was to hit six meters and we were able to achieve that. Now we are working on her further progression,” the coach explained.“We still have 2 months to go before the SEA Games and Patafa (Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association) still has another qualifying competition in March so Marestella still has so much room for improvement.”The veteran athlete acknowledged that she may no longer be able to duplicate her national mark of 6.72 meters, set at the Kazakhstan National Open in Almaty on July 4, 2016.She bested the Olympic qualifying standard of 6.70 meters, earning her a third and last Olympic ticket to the Rio Olympic Games. She also saw action at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Summer Games.Also the SEA Games record-holder with a jump of 6.61 meters at the 2011 edition held in Jakarta, Sunang, however, was keen on a podium finish in what most likely will be her last hurrah in the regional meet at the My Dinh National Stadium in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.Sunang tried to clear 5.20 and 5.30 meters in her 4th and 5th attempts but fouled on each occasion, citing windy conditions early in the morning when the event was held.Considering that Thai long jumper Parinya Chuamairoeng clinched the silver medal at the 2019 SEA Games with a leap of 6.23 meters, Delicano was optimistic that his ward could give the other regional rivals a run for their money as she keeps on improving.“ ’Pag nandu’n na sa Vietnam kailangan nila pag-ingatan ’yung matanda (The others should beware in Vietnam if this old woman is there),” said Torres with a wry smile but with a determined tone in her voice.Although she had a subpar outing, Santos, who is being trained by national coach Jojo Posadas, was also optimistic that she would make the qualifying cut and join Torres in Vietnam.“I had problems with my check marks so had a poor takeoff. Lessons learned because you can’t always win,” she rued.Clint Nerti, a former Palarong Pambansa standout and UP varsity team member, jumped 7.21 meters to top the men’s long jump.Frederick Ramirez and Jessel Lumapas, who won bronze medals in the 2019 SEA Games, swept the men’s and women’s 400-meter runs in times of 47.42 and 57.31 seconds, respectively.Their teammates Edwin Giron Jr. and Bernalyn Bejoy also handily won in the men’s and women’s 800-meter runs with personal best times of 1:52.84 and 2:13.52, respectively.UE varsity team member James Orduna clocked 1:34.65 to top the men’s 5,000-meter race to round up the early results.

Marestella Sunang-Torres is preparing to qualify for the Vietnam SEA Games, likely the 3-time Olympian's last should she do so.