ILOILO CITY – Dominique Balinas clinched her seventh gold medal yesterday but it wasn't enough to prevent NOPSSCEA from falling by the wayside of Iloilo 's assault in the swimming competitions of the WV PRISAA Meet here.

Balinas topped the 200m IM yesterday and grabbed another as NOPSSCEA ruled 4x50m medley. She was the lone bright spot for a Negrense squad that got edged by Iloilo in the final race.

Iloilo topped the 4x50m free relay to bag four golds and move ahead of the Negrenses in the race for the women's team crown.

Nevertheless, Balinas emerged as the biggest star in the women's division.

The Nursing freshman at the University of St. La Salle achieved the feat despite slowing down on training to concentrate on her studies.

“I used to train everyday in high school. But now, I only train three times a week,” the former Palarong Pambansa gold medalist told the DAILY STAR. “The level of high school competitions is actually higher compared to the collegiate level”.

The Negros aquabelles wound up with 14 golds, including five individual titles from Balinas, who took top honors in the 400m individual medley (6 minutes, 6.07 seconds), 50m fly (33.43), 200m fly (2:58.15) and 100m fly (1:19.26).

Michele Petero grabbed the Negrenses' other individual gold by ruling the 100m free. Negros also won the 4x100m free relay Tuesday for four more golds.

The men's team, however, failed to put up a decent fight as Iloilo came away with 30 golds, a whopping 24 more than NOPSSCEA.

Miguel Villanueva was the only double-gold winner for Negros . He ruled the 100m and 200m backstroke events.

But Iloilo , mentored by former La Salle star Ronald Sta. Ana, swept the relay events – 4x50m free and 4x50m medley – yesterday to highlight their scintillating victory.*CPT

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