PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – Western Visayas' barefoot runners, Vienna Mae Banebane and Reveneth Jayed Peñarubia, joined the double-gold club yesterday in the 2008 Palarong Pambansa by topping the secondary and elementary girls' 400m.

Also strengthening WV's bid was Joefel Bueno, winner of the elementary girls' 100m hurdles.

The impressive performance in athletics of the West Visayans was just enough to divert public attention from the National Capital Region's swimmers who continued their record-breaking spree yesterday.

The ace tankers from the Big City braced themselves for a triple crown at the pool on Day 4 as Fahad Alkhaldi bagged his third individual gold medal when he topped elementary boys 50m back in 32.33 seconds, while elementary boys and secondary girls 4x50m freestyle relay squads set new records to highlight their domination.

The elementary boys' 4x50m free relay team of Joseph Ventinilla, Juan Carlo Reyes, Jovic Ventenilla and Kevin Claveria broke the record twice en route to the gold in 1:56.08, smashing the 10-year-old mark of 1:57.77 of Western Visayas.

The win pushed NCR to 112 points out of a possible 286 points in the elementary boys' division, way ahead of Calabarzon with 59 markers. A team title in swimming is equivalent to 30 points in the overall tally.

NCR also showed the way in the secondary girls' division with 92 markers as new backstroke record-holder Dorothy Hong and Hannah Dato snared their second individual golds by ruling the 200m back and 100m fly, respectively.

Also moving closer to the crown is NCR's secondary boys' team, which stayed on top with 78 points despite winning only one gold yesterday courtesy of Johansen Aguila in the 200m back 2:15.69.

But Calabarzon looked poise to avert an NCR sweep as it kept the lead in the elementary girls' division, thanks to Ana Nicole Tan and Althea Aira Belen, winners of the 50m back and 100m fly, respectively.

Bicol drew the loudest cheers at the pool when its high school boys' quartet of John Brylle Zapanta, Wilfredo Sunglao, Miko Berces and Juan Pantila smashed the 10-year-old mark in the 4x50m free. The Bicol quartet obliterated the 1:45.39 mark of NCR by clocking 1:44.37 in the preliminaries, before resetting the standard anew with a 1:44.28 time in the finals.

Zapanta inched closer to claiming top individual honors by copping his third individual gold with his win in the 100m fly in 59.88.

NCR also continued to make inroads in secondary athletics with Jose Renato Unso and Isidro del Prado Jr., sons of Philippine track and field legends, snaring their second gold medals of the week-long Games held for the first time in this city.

The son of former Philippine athletics great Renato Unso, Jose Renato, the 400m hurdles titlist, also bagged the 110m hurdles gold in 15.7 seconds, while del Prado topped the 400m in 49.7 seconds.*

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