HE HAS heard of all the comparisons to EJ Obiena, but Hokett de los Santos is ready to establish his own name in the UAAP.
De los Santos, one of the three Filipino pole vaulters to have cleared five meters, is entering Season 86 season hoping to make up for lost time after not competing last year.
The Isabela native, who has a personal best of 5.10 meters, said he will not rush to try and break the 5.46-meter UAAP record of Obiena.
“Medyo tinaasan niya (Obiena) ‘yung standard sa 5.46, pero isa na rin ‘yun sa mga goals ko na bago ako matapos maging student-athlete is ma-break ko ‘yung record na ‘yun.”
De los Santos is not solely focused on pole vault; he also has his sights on showing out in other events.
“This coming UAAP, ang goal ko ay mabreak ‘yung record ng decathlon,” he said. “Kino-compute ko po kasi ‘yung mga ginagawa ko sa training and sa mga competitions, pinagsama-sama ko ‘yung mga performances ko and na-break ko na ‘yung record, kailangan ko lang talaga magawa officially.”
The current decathlon record is held by Far Eastern University’s Janry Ubas, who tallied 6,521 points in 2017.
UST head coach Manny Calipes expects De los Santos to help the Male Tracksters improve from their fourth-place finish last year.
“Parang si Obiena siya ng ibang level nga, sa collegiate level naman siya,” Calipes told the Varsitarian. “Sure winner ‘yan, sure winner ‘yan. “
De los Santos competed for the national team alongside the world’s No. 2 pole vaulter where they reaped a 1-2 finish in the 31st Southeast Asian Games last year.
Last June, De los Santos trained in Italy for the Summer Record Meeting in Japan last August 12, in which he won the gold medal after another 5-meter clearance.
De los Santos expressed his openness to comparisons with his “older brother” Obiena, whose father is his pole vault trainer, but he said he wants to forge his own path.
“EJ is EJ, Hokett is Hokett,” he said.
De los Santos will join fellow rookies Mark Astillero, John Butiong, Gerald Casimero, Joel de la Rosa, Oyamkerl Espinosa, Bernard Ordinario, John Pamatian, Gian Taylor and Pearl Vente to help the Male Tracksters end their 17-year title drought.
