LEGAZPI, Albay—Swimmer Maurice Sacho Ilustre broke a meet record twice in a day, joining 12-year-old runner Charlaine de Ocampo in taking centerstage Wednesday in Day 3 of the athletics’ meet in the 2016 Palarong Pambansa here.
Ilustre, an incoming 11th grader from La Salle-Zobel, topped secondary boys’ 100-meter freestyle in 54.15 seconds at the poolside of the Bicol University-Albay Sports and Cultural Complex, erasing an 11-year-old record set by Kendrick Uy in 2005.
“It was a fast swim. My time was already low this morning. Looks like it’s faster this time. I hope got it (record),” said Ilustre after he outpaced second placer Christian Anor of Region 11 (54.45) and teammate Miguel Barlisan (54.92).
Earlier in the day, Ilustre also surpassed Uy’s time with 54.41 seconds during the preliminaries.
So far, Ilustre’s efforts contributed to National Capital Region’s rise to the top of overall medal tally with 22 golds, 12 silvers and 10 bronzes.
NCR leads with an 11-7-5 gold-silver-bronze collection in the secondary division, while coming up with an 11-5-5 feat in the elementary side.
The Southern Tagalog Region (Region IV-A) trails at second spot (9-6-7), followed by Region 6 (Western Visayas) with a 6-9-3 tally.
Meanwhile, De Ocampo was encouraged by her twin sister Charmaine to be at her best in the elementary girls’ 400-m hurdles as she later on matched an 18-year record in the process. The younger of the twins from General Trias, Cavite overcame nervousness and ran as fast as she could as soon as she heard the blast from the starting gun. She eventually submitted a time of one minute and 8.6 seconds, matching the Palaro mark of Junelon Cabal of Northern Mindanao in 1998.
“Mabilis iyung takbo ko. Kinakabahan ako bago magsimula. Pero nu’ng pumutok iyung baril, nawala na,” said De Ocampo, whose twin sister is running in the relays and the 400-meter run.
Their coach Suseth Orbon expects them to win medals in their events for Region IV-A.
Meanwhile, John Marvin Rafols collected his second medal for Central Visayas Region after he leapt 14.65 meters in the secondary boys’ triple jump.
The 17-year-old bet from the University of Cebu was 36 shy of the meet mark when he bested Region IV-A’s Carl Aquino (14.4) and Region I’s Jay Mark Gascon (13.93).
Ed de Lina, a 10th grader from Zambales, took the secondary boys’ discus throw honors in 35.65 meters, with Region II’s Ronnie Baldomerte and Region VII’s John Limpado settling for the silver and bronze, respectively.
Marjun Sulleza, coached by former national athlete Henry Dagmil, struck gold in the secondary boys’ 400-meter hurdles for Region XII in 54.5 seconds, while Rizza Jane Vallente of Region VII ruled the distaff side.
Meanwhile, Carl de Guia of Region I took the first ever gold in the demonstration sport of 8-ball billiards.
In secondary boys’ basketball, Southern Tagalog Region’s San Beda-Taytay whipped Cordillera Region, 83-58, for their third straight win, while Western Visayas prevailed over Region XII, 89-72, and Cagayan Valley stopped Zamboanga, 77-75.
In secondary boys’ volleyball, Northern Mindanao came up with win no. 2 over Central Visayas, 25-20, 25-17, while Region IV-A outplayed Central Luzon, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, to catch up in the lead.
In softball, newly formed Negros Island Region smashed ARMM, 18-0, for move ahead with victory no. 3.
Sacho’s cousin Yuri added another medal for NCR in ruling the secondary boys breaststroke in 2:31:02.