Mika Santos (III BS Comtech), with barely a year of vaulting experience, cleared 3.00m to break the standing Philippine record of 2.40m set last year. In doing so, Mika automatically earned a slot in the Philippine team and to the 2005 Manila SEA Games.

For those unfamiliar with track & field, the pole vault is an event wherein an athlete attempts to clear the bar by using a fiber glass pole. The competitor who clears the highest wins.

The new national record holder also grabbed second place honors in the UAAP last Feb. (note: another Atenean, Steph Javellana, placed third last UAAP but failed to participate in the National Open because of a pulled muscle), behind an FEU athlete whom she handily outclassed during the recently concluded National Open.

Congratulations Mika!

Good Luck in your SEAGames stint.

That rocks. Congratulations, Mika! I'll watch out for you at the SEA Games (kahit sa TV lang).

JoeScoundrel, POLE VAULT eto ha. Hindi yung pole event na nakasanayan niyo ni CUbao Fleahouse na kung saan ang mga participants ay babae at ang background music ay "It Must've Been Love" ni Roxette.

Anyway, congratulations to Mika.

Congratulations Mika! continue to do our country proud!

go ateneo! one big fight!

hahaha... natawa ako dun ah.

mika even outclassed the vaulter from chinese taipei. that was a splendid performance, not succumbing to all the pressure, as she was the last athlete on the field, concluding the last event of this year's national open.

she has a long while until the SEA Games, so she has a lot of time to improve. i wouldn't doubt if she beats the record again!

the SEA games will be held sometime in november in the rizal coliseum in manila. go and support your fellow atenean!

Way to go! Congratulations!

By the way, how was this year's UAAP track meet? Any medal haul for the college team? What place did we finish overall (men's, women's, juniors')? Thanks!

WB,

Akala ko yung repertoire eh yung walang kamatayang songs tulad ng "I need a HERO" pati "turn around bright eyes" ...

Mwahahahaha ...

Naku, si canmaker at si wonderboynastyman parehong dalubhasa sa ibang klaseng pole event...

hldevil, I'm trying to look for info on how our track team fared last UAAP season but can't find any right now Perhaps uaapgames.com would have the standings.

Wonderboy, Canmaker,

BABAE naman siya 'di ba? Kaya nga MIKA ang pangalan? Ano kaya favorite song niya...

Canmaker, 'yung ice cream ng Lady Eagles hindi mo na naibigay!

The high school wards of Coach Ed Sediego was drubbed by their counterparts from UST , placing 1st runner-up behind the vastly improved cubs. UST was just too strong and fast for our high school kids that even the most gargantuan of efforts were deemed insufficient to avenge last year's defeat from the same opponents. (For those of you who don't know, the AHS track team has won about 26 UAAP championships out of the last 29, losing only in 1999 and the last two seasons).

Nevertheless, there were notable performances from Jai Reyes in the triple jump and high jump (Gold). Nick Hey, a shot putter also did his part by contributing a gold medal. Sorry guys, I'm not that familiar with the last season's hs team since I'm in college already. HS tracksters! time to make your presence felt in the forums!

For the first time in a decade (I think), the Women's Track Team is back in the medal race, grabbing 2 hard won medals in the maiden edition of the women's pole vault (Gold - Mika Santos, Bronze - Steph Javellana). The points provided by the efforts of the two sophomores, as well as the points that were chipped in the relay teams and the other tracksters who qualified for the finals, the women's team placed fifth.

As for the men's team, National team stalwart and SEA Games hammer throw record holder Arniel Ferreira certainly did his part by winning 3 gold medals in the throws, setting new records in each of the 3 events. National training pool member Rommel Ragudo contributed 2 silver medals in the 800m run and the 1500m run. In addition, the newly elected team captain, rob sargan, won two silver medals as well in the pole vault and the decathlon.

Despite the stellar performances of these three athletes, the men's team only managed to reach fifth place, failing to achieve the 4th place target set at the start of the season. In a more positive note, the men's team climbed up two places, a modest improvement from a last place finish in 2004 edition of the UAAP.

We are not contented with a mere fourth runner-up finish. We run, throw and jump to win.

i think mika finished the uaap with a silver medal against her opponent from FEU. however, this time around in the national open, mika beat her!