Apayao – Baguio City was still masterful during the 2019 Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) meet but the rest of CAR keep on closing the gap between them and the country’s Summer Capital.
The City of Pines garnered 394 medals, composing of 205 golds, 110 silvers, and 79 bronzes to bag the overall championship of the biennial regional games held in Apayao last February 27-March 3, 2019 by a rout.
This year, however, the rest of CAR came up with a combined output of 204 golds to keep on closing the margin against Baguio City.
The improvement of the rest of CAR’s medal haul was a trend in the last three years. The gold count was 222-148 in Baguio’s favor in 2018 and was 232-103 in 2017.
| Overall Championship | ||||
| Delegation | Total Medals | Rank | ||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | ||
| Baguio | 205 | 110 | 79 | 1st |
| Apayao | 69 | 76 | 79 | 2nd |
| Abra | 39 | 48 | 88 | 3rd |
| Benguet | 35 | 66 | 83 | 4th |
| Ifugao | 27 | 48 | 70 | 5th |
| Mt. Prov. | 16 | 25 | 44 | 6th |
| Tabuk City | 12 | 29 | 37 | 7th |
| Kalinga | 6 | 6 | 20 | 8th |
| Overall Championship | |||
| Delegation | Total Medals | ||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| 2019 | |||
| Baguio | 205 | 110 | 79 |
| Rest of CAR | 204 | 298 | 421 |
| 2018 | |||
| Baguio | 222 | 102 | 61 |
| Rest of CAR | 148 | 267 | 376 |
While there were no surprises for the top spot, host Apayao and Abra made a splash in the leaderboard by dislodging perennial second placer Benguet from its usual spot.
The host did not disappoint the local crowd by improving their fifth place finish last year’s 7-team event all the way up to to second in this year’s 8-team field. On the other hand, Abra, last year’s host, climbed from fourth to third.
The playing field grew up to eight this year because Kalinga and Tabuk City were entered as rivals, fielding their own line-ups.
Baguio City still ruled over both elementary and secondary divisions by a good margin.
The results in the secondary division were similar in 2018 and 2017 as second placer Apayao and third placer Benguet Couldn’t even crack the 30-gold level.
Benguet was second with 24 golds while Abra and Ifugao shared third with 14 in 2018. Baguio was also dominant in 2017 with 147 golds to Benguet’s 15 and Mountain province’s 11 where the rest of CAR only came up with 47 golds then.
| Secondary | ||||
| Delegation | Total Medals | Rank | ||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | ||
| Baguio | 135 | 74 | 54 | 1st |
| Apayao | 28 | 49 | 52 | 2nd |
| Benguet | 24 | 37 | 52 | 3rd |
| Abra | 21 | 26 | 59 | 4th |
| Ifugao | 17 | 28 | 39 | 5th |
| Mt. Prov. | 11 | 12 | 34 | 6th |
| Tabuk City | 9 | 18 | 23 | 7th |
| Kalinga | 5 | 6 | 17 | 8th |
| Secondary | |||
| Delegation | Total Medals | ||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| 2019 | |||
| Baguio | 135 | 74 | 54 |
| Rest of CAR | 115 | 176 | 276 |
| 2018 | |||
| Baguio | 146 | 102 | 38 |
| Rest of CAR | 76 | 155 | 241 |
The elementary division became even closer this time as the rest of CAR toppled Baguio 89-70.
The count was 76-72 in favor of Baguio in 2018. Ifugao’s 22 and Benguet’s 14 golds followed in the leaderboard.
Baguio took home 85 golds in the elementary division compared to the rest of CAR’s 56 in 2017.
| Elementary | ||||
| Delegation | Total Medals | Rank | ||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | ||
| Baguio | 70 | 36 | 25 | 1st |
| Apayao | 41 | 27 | 27 | 2nd |
| Abra | 18 | 22 | 29 | 3rd |
| Benguet | 11 | 29 | 31 | 4th |
| Ifugao | 10 | 20 | 31 | 5th |
| Mt. Prov. | 5 | 13 | 10 | 6th |
| Tabuk City | 3 | 11 | 14 | 7th |
| Kalinga | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8th |
| Elementary | |||
| Delegation | Total Medals | ||
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| 2019 | |||
| Baguio | 70 | 36 | 25 |
| Rest of CAR | 89 | 122 | 145 |
| 2018 | |||
| Baguio | 76 | 35 | 23 |
| Rest of CAR | 72 | 112 | 135 |
BY: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
Banner photo by GERRIAHZON S. SEBASTIAN
