DAGUPAN CITY - Western Visayas bagged 11 golds, 10 silvers and four bronzes yesterday to take the lead on Day One of the National PRISAA swimming competitions at the City Olympic Pool here.

The Tessie Ongkee-mentored Region VI lady tankers grabbed six golds, while the male swimmers of Western Visayas claimed five golds.

Edith Visitacion, a standout from the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, and Kristine Cabasac spearheaded the Region VI women's team with two gold medals each.

Cabasac opened the lady tankers' campaign with a victory in the 200-m free by clocking 2:35.72, beating Visitacion (2:47.22) and Maribeth Ababon of Central Visayas (2:48.02).

Adelbert Gallos, a student at the John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation-Iloilo, snared the first gold for the Region VI swimming delegation after topping men's 200-meter freestyle with a two minutes and 14.31 seconds clocking.

Gallos nosed out Sato Lipat of Calabarzon, who finished with a time of 2:14.44 and teammate Karl Roger Jayme placed third with a 2:15.10.

Visitacion ruled the women's 50-m free in 30.09 seconds, relegating Cabasac and Ababon (32.81). Cabasac and Visitacion were also members of the 4x100-m free relay squad that took the gold in (5:02.63), ahead of Central Visayas (5:43.27) and Central Luzon (5:48.84).

Also part of the WV winning squad were University of St. La Salle students Nianhlyn Acain, who also finished second in the 200-m butterfly and 400-m individual medley, and Kristy Litonjua.

Rheza Gonzales from UNO-R finished second in the 100-m breaststroke and was a member of the 4x50-m medley team that placed second.

The teammates of Gonzales were Litonjua, Angela Luz Tuble, who also had two bronzes, and Jessica Leonardia, also a bronze medal winner in the 50-m free.

In the men's division, the Region VI tankers also snatched the gold in the 4x100-m freestyle behind Erik Litonjua, a student at USLS, Sean Mark Rose, Mark Catalan and Jayme.

Gallos also won a silver for Western Visayas in the 50-m free with a 26.56 seconds clocking, being edged out by Carlo Rodriguez of Northern Mindanao who timed in at 26. 20 sec. Andrew Dequiña of Central Visayas placed third (26.87).

Ten more gold medals will be disputed today with Calabarzon in second place with an 11-7-1 medal-haul, while Central Visayas took three golds, five silvers and 14 bronzes yesterday.

Rounding out the top six teams were Northern Mindanao (3-5-4), Central Luzon (0-1-4) and Northern Luzon (0-0-1). *CIT

back to top

WV swimmers fish out 11 golds
Region VI
quintet
score upset
La Salle throwers triumph
TBAC stays unbeaten; Panasonic-Po's, TBA prevail