Continued from Part 1

2015 SEA Games Selection Methodology Mens 800m -1500m

Apr 15, 2015

ANDREW PIRIE - ATFS Statistician -editor for pinoyathletics.info

The 2013 SEA Games in Naypyidaw saw Malaysian Mohd Riduan

Jironi finally win the SEA Games gold he had been chasing for so

many years in 1:50.98, Mervin Guarte was second in 1:51.51 and

Duong Van Thai of Vietnam the 2011 SEA Games Champion

settled for Bronze in 1:51.51. It was an epic race with Van Thai

sitting back and then kicking with 250m to go. Guarte went with

him.

 

But it was the patience of the battle-hardened Jironi who let out a

devastating deadly double kick the last 120m. Pulling away from

Guarte and Van Thai to win the 2013 SEA Games. Van Thai faded

in the final meters of the race allowing Guarte to nip him for the

silver.

 

There were no qualifiers at the National Games, Weekly Relays

and athletes were even further off target at the UAAP and NCAA.

The closest athlete to the standard besides Guarte during the time

period who had run 1:52.26 at the National Games was Elbren

Neri who had run 1:52.60 to bag second at the ASEAN University

Games in December of 2014. It looked like no one else was going

to land the mark.

Vilog has an epic qualifying mark, but school rules prevent him
from joining SEA Games

With the last qualifying meet the National Open in Laguna March

19-22 what unfolded left a lot to the imagination. Mervin Guarte

who had already presented a letter to the PATAFA would not be

competing at the national open as he was comfortable that two

runners would not break the SEA Games standard of 1:51.62

instead, he decided to focus on the 1500m.

 

It was last years Bronze medalist Marco Vilog of Phil Airforce who

set a formidable 51.6 first lap. In retrospect (John Lozada had ran

51.9 when he went on to set the Philippine Record of 1:47.77 in

the Asian Grand Prix back in 2003). The gutsy first lap saw Vilog

well ahead of the rest of the field. With Vilog straining to hold the pace

his teammate Wenlie ‘The Fishman’ Maulas a perennial

silver medalist at the National Champion began to make his move

with 150m to go trying to chase down Vilog. Vilog held on with

Fishman closing him down very quickly. Kesavan of Malaysia was

third.

 

Vilog was happy for the win, and Maulas had to be content with

another silver medal for his growing collection of silver medals at

national championships. However, Vilog thought he had maybe

ran 1:52 something but was overjoyed to hear he had just ran

1:51.60 .02 seconds below the SEA Games qualification. With

Wenlie Maulas also going home with some satisfaction from a

new personal best time of 1:51.91.

 

The excitement soon became an issue when it was ruled Vilog still

has another year in the PRISAA. And PRISAA rules would not

allow him to play at the SEA Games as he may lose his

scholarship. Also he had no accreditation and no Filipino

passport so late in the selection process.

 

With this in mind the Fishman luck changed as he was selected to

join Mervin Guarte in the SEA Games 800m due to the

ineligibility of Vilog. It would be the first time 26-year-old Wenlie

would qualify for the SEA Games having given many years of loyal

service to athletics as a multiple UAAP Champion in his younger

years.

Later on, the Fishman went on to end his streak of endless silver

medals by winning the Singapore national title the following

week.

SEA Games 2015: Selection Methodology Men’s 1500m

ANDREW PIRIE - ATFS Statistician - editor for

pinoyathletics.info

The 2013 SEA Games in Naypyidaw saw a very low qualifying

standard compared to previous standards with the Gold and silver

being tied at 3:58.02 and bronze at 3:58.37, surprisingly the

Filipino entry in this event National and National Junior Record

Holder who finished with silver in this event in 2011 in

Palembang SEA Games wound up fourth in 3:58.43.

It was going to be a relatively easy event to qualify in.

With the qualifying period for the SEA Games December 2013 to

March 2015, as the Philippines had no medalists there were no

proxy qualifiers.

The first set of qualifiers came at the 2014 National Games in May

with Mervin Guarte winning in 3:55.10, ahead of Wenlie Maulas

who ran a new PB of 3:58.30 the duo hitting the gold and the

bronze standards.

Weekly Relays Verano breaks through and brings Rudyfer with him

When we came around to the Weekly relays which like the

National Games were held in Pasig and ran from July to October

it was an interesting development. With Maulas and Guarte

opting not to participate in the 1500m here. It was Roldan Verano

of PLDT who was third in the National Open in 3:59.74 who

would improve his time first to 3:58 and then eventually register

3:55.3, 3:55.4 and 3:55.8 (usually 3 stopwatches used) (gold

standard) showing great improvement and consistency

throughout the weekly relays. His training partner and former

school mate Rudyfer Hernandez of JRU took advantage of the fast

pace Verano set and also clocked 3:57.8 (bronze standard).

National Open Guarte is Dominant

There were no more qualifiers during the UAAP and NCAA or Uni

Games. Then at the national open in March the final qualification

meet there was an interesting set of results. Mervin Guarte won in

3:54.87, taking his fifth national title and securing his qualifying

spot for one of the two slots.

The interesting development was the PRISAA Champion Sony

Wagdos who was running for ‘Team Titus’ here and reduced his

PB from 3:58.2 to 3:55.75.Wagdos had the race of his life latching

onto Guarte who kicked hard away from the rest of the field and

chasing him all the way to the line.

 

Wagdos has a passport as he won a gold medal in the Philippines

in the BIMPA Games, however, he had not been accredited by the

association as he was not a strong contender prior to the deadline

of accreditation which was several months ago. He is also at

University of Mindanao a PRISAA school which does not allow

National athletes to participate in the PRISAA meets.

Guarte and Wagdos were the only two to hit the standard during

the national open. Third was Rudyfer in 3:58.49 and Maulas

clocked in at 4:01, Verano who struggled with cramps was a very

distant 4:05.

The Decision for the second spot

It was very obvious the first spot was to go to Guarte the Fastest

time during the qualification period and PNG and National Open

Champion. The second slot would obviously go to Wagdos had

been accredited and risk his PRISAA scholarship. Therefore as

nobody else at the open hit the qualifying mark the performances

within the qualifying period was now examined. It was Roldan

Verano who had run 3:55 3x who had the second-fastest

qualifying time and run the gold standard three times

showing consistency. Verano was advised he must be more

frequent in training on condition he would line up for SEA Games

to avoid a relapse of his poor race at the national open.

SEA Games 2015 Archives: Four Relay Teams Proposed

Mulling through my data this is what I found this article on

proposal of four relay teams for SEA Games. This article was

never published due to the high volume of articles I had queued at

the time. It’s interesting to note if the Philippines will ever be able

to field four relay teams at SEA Games level. Knowing that crucial

athletes at most times pull out at the last minute. I am an ideas

man and this is one idea that didn’t materialize although we did

end up with a Women’s 4×100 and Men’s 4×400 which placed 6th

(45.64 3rd fastest all time) and the men got bronze with the 2nd

fastest of all time in a 3.06.

Simple Plans work Four Relay Teams Proposed

I want to begin by stating life is full of complications so it gives

peace of mind knowing it’s the simple plans that work.

 

My first review analysis of the 2015 SEA Games team in Athletics

will be about the benefits of fielding four relay teams at the SEA

Games. After briefly discussing it vocally with the task-force and

several national coaches, it’s clear there is a lot of strong support

so I have decided to put this simple plan into writing.

 

I am willing to state in writing that if we build now all four our

relay teams we can land a medal in each relay. I can only say for

certain the 4×4 mens will get a gold as we face stiff opposition

from better prepared more established teams such as Vietnam

and Thailand.

 

Furthermore as per PATAFA head coach Dario De Rosas “If we

don’t send teams now when will it be ?” said the veteran coach

who strongly supported the initiative. The benefits of strong relay

teams now is it is going to inspire a new generation of sprinters

some who are probably not even born at this time of writing.

 

Just like the ‘Invitational A’ concept i came up with at the Weekly

Relays no cost just a ‘simple plain plan’ that worked getting the

best sprinters against each other week in week and week out and

also inspiring young athletes who one day hoped to be in the

Invitational A.

 

If lined up a new generation of sprinters who are looking to make

there debut at the SEA Games will be in action. Anyway, this

article will explore the individuals, composition and statistical side

of our teams versus countries. Please note the task-force

prefers if each member is in an individual event also. It is very

clear the Fil-Heritage program has helped complete the local

lineups with athletes featured in all four relays.

 

The Mens 4×400 relay

Bagsit and Alejan 1-2 SEA Games really beef up the relay teams

chances in Singapore.

 

With the well of Filipino quarter milers in no way short of going

dry we have the best two sprinters for both 2013, 2014 who

further backed this statistic by getting Gold and Silver last SEA

Games. Bagsit (46.88) and Alejan (46.95).

Very eager to boost the strength of the team is Eric Cray the SEA

Games 400 Hurdles champion; Asian Championship and Asian

Games Finalist. Cray’s PB of 50.00 (give him at least a 47.5 or

faster time). The trio have all comfortably hit the criteria required

for there respective individual events. Bagsit and Alejan (400

47.71 Standard) and Cray (400 51.79 standard).

 

Its a fierce fight with 2013 4×400 members of the Gold medal

team Julius Nierras, 36 and 2013 UAAP Champion Isidro Del

Prado Jr. facing a stiff challenge at the national open from several

hungry young men including PRISAA Champion Joan Caido,

PNG Silver medalist Ryan Bigyan and Jumper Harry Diones who

have all been on the hunt this season during the PSC-PATAFA

Weekly Relay serie.

 

However if we put together Bagsit, Cray and Alejan that’s good for

a tleast 46 each each and surely another 47 runner from the list of

names mentioned above running 47 gives the team a solid time of

3:05. Below the National Record of 3:06.58, and a whopping 4!

seconds faster than the 3:09 winning time in the 2013 SEA Games

or even the 3:08 best time in Thailand (Del Prado, Alejan,

Nierras, Bagsit).

 

No other SEA Games Nation has the luxury of even one 46 second

runner, while we are blessed with two possibly three.

As a majority with 2/4 athletes coach Lerma holds on as coach.

Womens 4×400 Relay

Depending on the availability of Jenny Rose Rosales who is busy

with OJT. we have quite a strong chance in the Womens 4x400m

a team we have not fielded since 2005 and have not medalled in

at least 20 years. Besides Princess Joy its a relatively young team

which has almost a decade of SEA Games in store for them.

Looking at the team Princess Joy, 28 is already entered in the

100, 200, 4×100 she has a PB of 55.96 from some years back but

has split 53.5 in relays and mainly ran 4×400 at College. With her

200 PB to 23.93 as opposed to 24.5 at 55.96 she could easily split

a 54 second run.

Three athletes who are all below 21 would all help strengthen the

team. Leading the charge is 16 year old Jamaican-Filipino Zion

Corrales Nelson from Canada who is the youngest and the fastest

in the team holding both National and National Junior records in

this event with a time of 54.18.

Jenny Rose Rosales the UAAP Record Holder at 54.45, would

seriously beef up the team but will need to balance it with

education commitments.

While all four athletes are making there SEA Games, completing

the lineup would be Neslee Angco who has never competed

overseas her best time is 56.52. The UAAP Silver medalist is the

training partner and school mate at University of the East with

Jenny Rosales and coached by Elma Muros and George Posadas.

So Looking at the relay in hind sight 3 x 54 and a 56 equates to

3:38. Which is below the 3:42 bronze medal of Myanmar in 2013

and also 2 seconds faster than the National Record of 3:40 set by

De Vega, Muros, Bulutucan and Rhodas Sinoro.

The Vietnamese will be hard to beat with 3 x 52 and a 53 which

gives them a combined time of 3:29 well below the SEA Games

record. There prime athlete is QUACH who has a junior last year

took silver in 52.06 at the Asian Games.

Then The Thais have a 53 and 3 x 54 which gives them a

combinded team of 3:35 they are led by Trewadee the SEA Games

400m Champion in 2013.

Mens 4×100 Relay

The Philippines also has its best chance in recent years with

several new sprinters. Led by Fil-Heritage athletes Eric Cray

of Texas (10.52, 10.47w PB), and Bryan Mercado of

California (10.56 PB). The duo is joined by SEA Games three time

long jump champion Henry Dagmil, and possibly Brandon

Thomas (10.59 PB), Daniel Noval (10.65 PB), and Anfernee

Lopena (10.73 PB).

 

While Cray, Mercado and Dagmil are comfortably qualified in

individual events the other three will need to knuckle down and

bring there best times down. Lopena, Thomas and Noval will go

head to head at the national open.

SEA Games 2015: Selection Methodology Women’s 4×100

Apr 4, 2015

 

ANDREW PIRIE - ATFS STATISTICIAN editor for

pinoyathletics.info

 

The PATAFA is still finalizing whether a women’s 4×100 will be

included in the SEA Games. I will list reasons for including one

and the methodology used in selecting the team. I am using pieces

from an article that was in the pipeline and never published in

this write up with updates. Please note to news media if you use

any of this article to quote pinoyathletics.info in your write up.

Womens 4×100 Relay

Is the next most sure relay with five members. Two of the women

have happily helped themselves to qualifying standards in the

100, 200 events.

28 year old Princess Joy Griffey (our #2 fastest women of all time

and National Junior Record Holder in 100), and 17 year old

World Junior representative Kayla Richardson.

Princess Joy Griffey

Griffey (11.62, 2014), Richardson (11.78, 2014), They were both

ranked in top 10 in the SEA Rankings last year 100, 200. With

Griffey ranked third behind Vu (Vietnam) 11.59 and Tassaporn

Wanakit (Thailand). Griffey won the 100,200 at the 2014

National Games and opened 2015 with 11.92 and then 11.88.

 

Griffey with the best 200 PB 23.93 is an experienced relay runner

having gone through the US NCAA system is the best choice for

the second runner. Its the longest leg 105m+ and requires two

hand offs that only an experience runner can get right.

Khay Santos

Long jumper Khay Santos (although PB 12.17, 2012 had a big

break through recently with 6.95 for 55m = 7.60 = 11.85-11.95).

Santos played a very effective role as first runner at the Thai Open

as she beat the Thai to the first change passing it to Princess Joy.

Khay then followed this up with a windy 11.97 in Los Angeles and

then a PB of 11.99 to win the National Open in 2015.

Kayla Richardson

The promising 17 year old, would be ideal for the third or fourth

leg of the relay. As a familiar passing changing with her sister Kyla

would be of benefit to the team. Kayla has a PB of 11.78,just.03

seconds away from the junior record of Princess Joy Griffey.

 

She has some international experience placing 5th at the Asian

Youth Champs and also becoming the first athlete ever to hit the

qualifying standard for the prestigious World Junior Champs

which were held in Oregon last year.

 

The natural heir to Griffey in the sprints the 5’9 teenager may

show great promise in the years to come. Opened with 12.04 and

also ran a new PB of 56.82 in the 400 showing her versatility

range as a sprinter.

Kyla Richardson comes in as 4th runner in the team

Due to several withdrawals which will be mentioned later. Kyla

Richardson, the twin sister of Kayla who had been ranked not in

the top five last year has made her way into the lineup for the

womens 4×100.

 

Unlike Griffey (100,200), Kath (Long Jump) and Kayla

(100,200).Kyla would only be participating in the relays at SEA

Games. Kyla has a PB of 11.93 from 2013, and is the fasetst 14

year old of all time in 2012 with 12.00.

 

Kyla finished 6th in the Asian Youth Champs, but then had to

fight hamstring issues in 2014. In 2015 she came back with an

opening time of 12.09 and then 12.03 2 weeks later.

Nelson and Rosales unavailable for SEA Games

Updates since last time the following sprinters are now

unavailable. Zion Corrales-Nelson, 15 who was anticipated to join

the SEA Games delegation, did not communicate intention to join

the meet with the PATAFA. She has a best time of 12.02 in the

100 but is better known as the National 400 Record Holder.

Jenny Rose Rosales whose UAAP Record in the heats of 11.90,

also went under the 11.91 (SEA Bronze 2013) standard. However

as two entries per event. Rosales was not able to sign up for the

SEA Games due to OJT commitments.

The Thai Open

When I brought the 4×100 to Thailand they landed bronze with

Santos, Griffey, Loquinto and Rosales. The team then ran 46.61

off two days training. Jenny going two steps early before Hanelyn

reached the check mark ended up costing the team about .3

seconds.

 

Now lets assume based on best times

Thai Open 4×100 2013

46.61 ( this was the best time by the Philippines since 2005)

(Name, best time, time ran at meet)

• Katherine Khay Santos (12.17 PB, 12.29)
• Princess Joy Griffey (11.58 PB, 12.10)
• Hanelyn Loquinto (12.22 PB, 12.49)
• Jenny Rosales (12.22 PB, 12.41) (*12.41 recent time didnt run individual at games)

Back in 2013 for SEA Games note

Griffey only trained a month before Thai Open, after 2 years out

of the sport.

Kyla (11.93) and Kayla (11.79) were together around 1.2 seconds

faster than Loquinto and Jenny at this point in time.

2015 Team

• Katherine Khay Santos (11.99 PB)
• Princess Joy Griffey (11.58 PB, 11.62)
• Kayla Richardson (11.78)
• Kyla Richardson (11.93)

12.17-11.99 = .18

12.10 - 11.62 = .48

12.49-11.93 = .56

12.22-11.78 = .46

46.61 - 1.68 (if all athletes in pb shape) = 44.93

44.93 is best scenario due to lack of passing and athletes having

been in individual events prior. 45.3-45.8 is a more realistic

target. The Phi record is 45.41 and 44.88 is good for silver

whereas 45.3-45.8 perhaps bronze.

 

2013 SEA Games

Thailand 44.42

Vietnam 44.99

Indonesia 45.88

Myanmar 47.82

Malaysia DSQ

The Diagnosis

Based on the speed of our members and past history, Thailand

with superior passing will win the relay. However Vietnam who is

without Vu may run significantly slower. So the key challenge for

the bronze would come from Indonesia and possibly Malaysia.

Especially relevant is that Griffey and Kath have shown some

good early season form. But it is crucial that the Richardson twins

get into the 11.80 to 11.90 bracket. If this happens we have a very

high medal chance. Yet the relay team members are willing to

come out to camp in Manila on May 25 if the team is approved.

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