Piepet Prebillo of Filamera Christian School of Capiz secured the first gold after winning the women’s 200-m run while Peter Molina of West Visayas State University followed suit in the men’s side of the same athletics event in the 2023 ROTC Games Visayas Leg on Tuesday, Aug. 15, at the Iloilo Sports Complex.

The 20-year-old Army cadet Prebillo, a second year student of BS Criminology, posted a time of 27.91 seconds to bring home the gold.

But not to be outdone, Molina, a third year Physical Education student topped the event in 23.50 seconds.

“I really wanted to also help young people in their studies. That’s why I wanted to be a teacher. The revival of the ROTC would really help students to be guided in the right direction through discipline,” said the 20-year-old Air Force cadet Molina.

For her part, Prebillo, expressed gratitude for higher officials in their effort to revive the ROTC. “This is good that our officials revived the ROTC because this would help students become good leaders and go away from temptations of vices.”

Cadets from the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos of Bacolod City, likewise dominated the men and women’s 4×100-m relay.

The quartet of David Paul Balagat, John Lloyd Moreno, Romeo Constancio and Christian Sericon finished in 49.6 seconds while Angelica Pacaro, Marla Jean Pacaro, Ciara Largavista and Jocel Talaver ruled the distaff side in 57.7 seconds.

Over at the University of San Agustin gym, Salazar College of Science and Technology (SCSIT) of Bantayan, Cebu suffered a loss by forfeiture to Iloilo Science and Technology (ISAT-U in the resumption of the women’s volleyball.

A late arrival of their service vehicle driver caused the delay of the scheduled games prompting tournament officials to impose the sad penalty of forfeiture. They won over Capiz State University (CAPSU) in their first game on Monday, 25-9, 25-10, 25-10.

In the other game, Leyte College-Tacloban proved too much for Capiz State University (CAPSU), 25-13, 25-7, 25-8, to secure the victory and a 1-0 record in the standings. CAPSU absorbed a 0-2 record.

“They’re doing their best. Our team is trying to cope up with the pressure. Hopefully we can advance to the next round and get the no. 1 spot,” said LCT coach Bob Montejo.

“Our hopes to make it to the national finals will now depend on our consistency. It will depend now on the set up, but we’re trying our best,” Montejo added.

After the big win, team captain Melz Pacayra expressed confidence about their campaign as a fitting follow up of their success during the cluster round in Tacloban City.

But the short preparation for the Visayas elimination cast doubts about their chances. “We stopped preparing after the cluster. We left early, that’s why we were not able to practice, we had our practice only when we arrived here,” explained Pacayra.