ZAMBOANGA CITY – Western Visayas' gold medal machine began humming to life yesterday but it could turn out to be too little, too late as National Capital Region, buoyed by victories in swimming and athletics, pulled away from the pack in the National Private Schools Athletic Association Games here.

Swimming contributed five golds, the women's badminton team retained its title for four more and taekwondo produced two new champions as Western Visayas solidified its hold of second place in the overall standings.

Chrizel Lagunday of John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University won the region's first individual gold in swimming when she topped the women's 200m freestyle.

Making it a 1-2 finish was St. La Salle tanker Michele Petero, who grabbed her second silver at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex pool here.

The quartet of Hanna Bolivar, Alexandra Ganzon, Jann Leona and Mengie Makilan booked a golden finish in the 4x100m medley to help snap the NCR domination of the swimming events.

Over at the Ateneo de Zamboanga gym, Riverside College's Rosalie Soberano was the hero in Western Visayas' 2-1 conquest of NCR in the women's badminton team event finals.

The tiff was deadlocked at 1-all, before Soberano came up with the decisive win in the second singles match. Also part of the Western Visayas squad are Lynette Esico, Annalyn Alba and Malou Martinez.

Ma. Daphne Alindogan, a newcomer in the National PRISAA Games, proved her worth by winning the flyweight gold at the expense of Milagros Espina of Central Visayas.

Heavyweight Daniel Bermello delivered taekwondo's other gold, a day after JBLCF standouts Rubylyn Mapa and Crystal Pauline Reyes and Riverside's Catherine Samonte ruled their respective divisions.

En route to the finals, Alindogan, an incoming Hotel and Restaurant Management sophomore at John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation in Bacolod City, defeated the bets of Calabarzon, 5-1, and Ilocos, 8-6.

Western Visayas'11-gold output, however, failed to scuttle the NCR charge, which has now collected an astonishing 71 gold medals with two days left in the 38th edition of the meet.

Athletics and swimming continued to be the source of strength of the Big City squad, whose tankers came away with an impressive total of 14 golds on the second day of competitions.

Ferdinand Frigillana and Marvie Borja once again stood at the forefront of the NCR charge as they posted multiple-golden finishes. Frigillana conjured record-smashing finishes in the 400m medley (5 minutes 10.42) and 200m free (2:09.03), while Borja and Lianne Marquez starred for the women's team, setting new marks in the 400m IM (5:47.36) and 50m back (32.63), respectively.

The duo also keyed NCR's victory in the women's 4x50m free (1:59.26).

Also carting home their second individual gold medals were Josephine Pilapil, winner of the women's 200m breast in 2:59.63, and Edson Dinglasan, men's 200m breast in 2:38.74.

Over at the tracks, Bernardita Mag-aso captured her third gold, after ruling the women's 800m Thursday to complement her wins in the 1500m and 3000m.

La Salle's Jossie Entrina settled for the silver in women's javelin throw with a 37.5m effort. The gold went to Jelyn Rojas of NCR, who threw 38.76m.

Also coming away with a silver was West Negros University's Allen Grace Salas, who checked in second behind Mag-aso in the women's 800m with her 2:26.4 clocking.

NCR also swept men and women's lawn tennis for eight golds, while Central Visayas ruled karatedo with a 4-3-2 count, followed by Cotabato with 4-1-0.*CPT

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