On Wednesday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City, Mark Nonoy led the top scorers in the skills tests for the first day of the PBA Draft Combine.

In this year’s rookie class, the La Salle guard was one of the fastest, finishing the sprint test in 2.862 seconds.

The 5-foot-9 Nonoy was even one of the combine’s greatest leapers, recording 53 inches in the running vertical jump—better than others who were taller.

DJ Mitchell, on the other hand, won the lane agility test. The current MPBL player for the Manila Stars, clocking in at 11.49 seconds, was among the fastest of the 62 rookies present at the combine.

Standing vertical jumper Michael Malonzo of National University won both the standing and running events with corresponding heights of 43 inches.

At 358 milliseconds, Brandon Ramirez had the quickest reaction time.

Meanwhile, in his two games on Day One of the PBA Draft Combine on Wednesday at the Ynares Sports Arena, Jonnel Policarpio stole the show.

In NorthPort/Phoenix’s 68-64 defeat to Terrafirma/TNT, Policarpio scored 24 points, even surpassing Justine Baltazar, a fellow Kapampangan and the presumptive No. 1 draft pick, who finished with 16 points.

In his debut game during the combine, the Arayat, Pampanga native scored 16 points as NorthPort/Phoenix defeated Rain or Shine/San Miguel, 82-68. In that same game, CJ Catapusan scored 17 points and Kurt Reyson added 16 points.

The La Salle winners struck gold.

After winning the speed and vertical leap tests and scoring 19 points in Converge/Magnolia’s 72-60 loss over Ginebra/Blackwater, Mark Nonoy also performed exceptionally well in the Draft Combine games.

Michael Malonzo of National U, meanwhile, scored 17 points to lead Rain or Shine/San Miguel over NorthPort/Phoenix.
Afterwards, Abdul Sawat of UE scored 17 points as Meralco/NLEX defeated Ginebra/Blackwater 60–51.
The semifinals and finals will also be contested on Thursday in addition to the elimination round games.