Kyla Soguilon of Ochando National High School in Aklan, Alexi Kouzenye Cabayaran of the Mambulac Elementary School in Bacolod, and Busty Jalandra of the University of Saint La Salle Bacolod show off their gold medals.
glendale Rosal
Tankers from Bacolod, Ormoc break records in Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals
Swimmers took the spotlight in the penultimate day of the 23rd Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals yesterday, shattering 13 records that impressed tournament organizers.
According to Visayas Regional Finals overall organizer Ricky Ballesteros, the record-breaking spree in swimming might be a new high for the meet.
“We have to [check the records]. But I think that’s the most records set in the history of the Milo Little Olympics in the Visayas,” said Ballesteros.
Leading the way in swimming competition were tankers from Bacolod and Ormoc, who almost swept the entire event of the multisporting meet.
Among those who made an impact was 11-year-old Alexi Kouzenya Cabayaran of Mambulac Elementary School in Bacolod City. Out of her nine gold medals, four were new records.
She bested multiple gold medalist Kyla Soguilon’s 2016 100-meter freestyle record of 1:06.00 with her time of 1:04.48.
She also erased Raven Faith Alcoseba’s records in the 100m butterfly and the 200m freestyle. Kouzenya clocked 1:10.51 to eclipse Alcoseba’s 2014 record in the 100m butterfly of 1:15.46, then finished in 2:27.34 in the 200m freestyle to beat Alcoseba’s 1:06.00 record logged in 2014. The Ilongga also bested Marielle Estreba’s 2016 record in the 400m freestyle of 5:18.53 by clocking 5:06.45.
Her other golds came from the 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley (IM), 50m freestyle, and the 500m butterfly events.
“I was not able to compete last year because I focused on my studies. It was supposed to be my first time to compete in Milo but unfortunately, I skipped last year. Now that I joined this year, I am so happy because I performed very well,” said Cabayaran.
Fellow Ilonggo Joseph Garbanzos shattered four records in the secondary division. He set a record in the 100m freestyle by clocking 56:56, in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:27.48, in the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:06.24, and in the 800m freestyle by clocking 9:21.66.
New Ormoc City National High School’s Chloe Laurente set two new records in the secondary girls division. She clocked 2:39.62 in the 200m backstroke to beat Mary Louise Lacson’s 2016 record of 2:40.00, and then set a new mark in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:10.80, besting Kyla Soguilon’s 2016 record of 1:12.42. She also won a gold in the 200m butterfly.
Bets from the University of Saint La Salle Bacolod harvested six gold medals and set two new meet records.
11-year-old Busty Jalandra set a record in the 400m freestyle elementary by clocking 5:13.54 and won four gold medals in total as he also topped the 50m backstroke, 200m freestyle, and the 100m backstroke.
Its secondary girls team set a record in the 400m medley relay by clocking in 4:39.76, eclipsing University of San Carlos’ 2013 record of 4:41.63. They also topped the 400m medley relay, secondary boys. Lois Marie Lacson topped the 100m freestyle secondary girls competition.
Ormoc Immaculate School Foundation’s secondary girl’s relay team topped the 200m medley relay and set a new record of 2:19.77, besting Saint Scholastica Bacolod’s 2014 record of 2:23.51.
Meanwhile, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu partially leads the overall points standings in the secondary division with 43 points followed closely by the University of Cebu with 42 points and New Ormoc NHS with 40 points.
In the elementary division, SHS-AdC also leads with 41.67 points followed by University of Saint La Salle Bacolod (35 points) and UC (30 points).