Cebu City—Twelve-year-old Alessandra Therese Martin dominated all five of her events, emerging as one of the most successful athletes on Day 3 of the Palarong Pambansa held at the Cebu City Sports Complex pool on Saturday.
Martin clinched her fifth gold medal in the elementary girls’ 100-meter butterfly, defeating her rival Sofia Garra with a time of 1 minute and 8.3 seconds.
“It felt amazing. I beat my personal best. It wasn’t what I expected, but I’m so very happy,” said Martin, who also set two new records with her teammates in the medley relay events, the 4×100-meter and the 4×50-meter.
A sixth grader at PAREF-Woodrose School in Muntinlupa, Martin earlier won the 50-meter butterfly in 31.08 seconds, narrowly edging out Garra, who finished in 31.38 seconds.
Martin also secured gold in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:22.10, outpacing her NCR teammates Allana Soriano and Caelyn Calac.
Garra, a sixth grader at De La Salle-Araneta, earned five golds and two silvers. She competed alongside Martin in two relay events, the 100-meter backstroke, and her final event, the 50-meter backstroke.
“I hope I can break more records here at Palaro,” said Garra from Malabon. She shattered a third record, previously held by Dorothy Hong since 2006, in the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 31.96 seconds, beating Hong’s 32.62 seconds.
Garra also set a new record in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:08.50, surpassing Hong’s 18-year-old record of 1:09.65.
Region IV-A, leading the overall standings, gained another gold medal through Jerico Cadag, who triumphed over Region 7’s Junel Canalita with a time of 9:34.49.
Albert Jose Amaro II contributed Region IV-A’s fourth gold in the secondary boys’ 100-meter butterfly. Amaro, along with teammate Reinelle Trinidad, broke Jamerey Ajido’s year-old record of 56.78 seconds with times of 56.50 and 56.76 seconds, respectively.
In gymnastics, Elaiza Yulo secured two gold medals in the individual all-around and team events for NCR last Friday at the Cebu Institute of Technology.
The 14-year-old Yulo, the youngest of the Yulo siblings, topped the individual all-around with a score of 42.25, edging out her NCR teammates Cielo Andrea Esliza (41.20) and Amara Zoe Lagdameo (38.05).
The trio earned the team gold with a score of 121.5, far ahead of second-place Western Visayas (86.9) and bronze winner Central Luzon (83.6).
Yulo aims for a six-gold sweep in her upcoming events on Sunday.
University of Santo Tomas standout Eljay Vista claimed two golds in taekwondo by winning the 59-kg weight poomsae event and leading NCR to the team gold with Jose Llarena and John Paul Soriano.
