Tagum City— She is described by her coach as strong-willed and hardworking. Swimmer Raven Faith Alcoseba needed every bit of her tremendous character to survive a gut-wrenching contest—and silence her critics too.
Behind a record-shattering performance, Alcoseba contributed a second gold to the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) after she survived a tightly contested 200-meter individual medley event in the swimming competition of the 58th Palarong Pambansa at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex here.
The final round was hyped up after the three finalists of the event broke the 2013 record of National Capital Region’s (NCR) Regina Erin Castrillo, which stood at 2:37.16.
In the preliminaries, Alcoseba shattered Castrillo’s record at 2:34.76, while hometown bet Zoe Marie Hilario timed 2:36.62. NCR’s Althea Baluyot logged the third best time at 2:36.68.
With the trio’s remarkable preliminary performances, the event became the most-awaited contest in the afternoon.
The event lived up to the hype when the trio figured in a neck-and-neck battle. When the smoke cleared, it was Alcoseba, the 13-year-old swimmer from First Chinese Royal Academy in Talisay City, southern Cebu, who got out of the pool victorious, improving the record she had just set in the morning with a time of 2:33.71.
Hilario came in second at 2:34.07 followed by Baluyot at 2:38.97.
Alcoseba was superb in the preliminaries, yet there were still some who were unconvinced.
“Bibigay din yan. Hihina yan mamaya kasi sobrang liit (She will cave in. She will slow down because she’s too small,” said Alcoseba’s trainer Remilino Andoy, quoting a coach from NCR.
“Raven may be small for her age but she has speed and endurance,” said Andoy.
Alcoseba proved her coach right.
BAD HABIT
Hilario took the lead early in the butterfly stroke stage before Alcoseba started to gain ground and zoomed ahead in the backstroke.
“It is my favorite stroke (backstroke) and I took advantage of it,” said Alcoseba, who got her first gold last Tuesday via the elementary 100-meter backstroke.
Hilario and Alcoseba then figured in a thrilling contest in the breaststroke.
“Hilario started to catch up since breaststroke is not Raven’s strong suit. That’s something that we have been working on,” said Andoy.
It also didn’t help that Alcoseba’s habit of looking at her opponents came to the fore.
“I’ve been reminding her not to do it because it costs her precious seconds,” said Andoy.
Alcoseba admitted her mistake but had an explanation.
“I don’t know why I keep on doing it. I can’t resist it. I just want to check where my opponents are,” said Alcoseba after the competition.
Nonetheless, Andoy and Alcoseba’s family are happy with the results.
“We got more than we wanted,” said Alcoseba’s mom Fritzie. “When she won gold last Tuesday, I said that was already enough. She won a second gold and established a new record at the same time. We are really happy for her.”
Andoy had nothing but praises for her prized ward.
“I really admire her attitude. We don’t have enough facility to train but she makes it up with her attitude. She’s a courageous, obedient and hardworking athlete,” said Andoy, whose wards train at the undersized Maroca Swimming Pool in barangay Poblacion, Talisay City.
“I was bit nervous because my good showing in the preliminaries might go to waste if I lose in the final. I just prayed and swam as hard as I can,” said Alcoseba, who eyes more golds today when she competes in the 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly events.
OTHER GOLDS
Also emerging as Cviraa’s double-gold winner yesterday was Nicole Marie Tagle, who ruled the archery secondary girls’ 60-meter contest.
Tagle, who ruled the 30m event last Tuesday, scattered 297 points to beat Region 10’s Danika Nikka Buctolan and Loren Chloe Balaoing of Cordillera Administrative Region with 293 and 292 points, respectively.
Also contributing gold yesterday was Mark John Torregosa, who marked his debut in the Palaro by winning the elementary boys 400m hurdles.
In an unofficial tally, Cviraa ranked fifth in the standings with nine golds, four silvers and 12 bronzes.
NCR remained comfortably on top with a 33-29-21 (gold-silver-bronze) tally followed by Region 4-A at 23-14-20. Region 6 was at third with 14-19-73, while CAR was at fourth with 14-14-7.
Meanwhile, Cviraa’s smashers continued to win games in the badminton doubles competition.
The boys’ tandem of Lyrden Laborte and Neil John Navarette hammered Region 1, 21-11, 21-10, while the girls’ team of Karyll Rio and Eclaire Satera downed Region 8, 21-10, 21-8.