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Friday, March 29, 2024

Ilustre is brightest star of Palarong Pambansa

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It was three years of domination at the pool for Maurice Sacho Ilustre. 

The La Salle Zobel student dished out yet another impeccable performance to emerge the most bemedalled athlete in this year’s Palarong Pambansa in Antique. 

Ilustre participated in seven swimming events and topped them all in glittering fashion. 

The 17-year-old capped his farewell stint in Palaro with two gold medals on the last day of swimming competition, including a record-breaking victory in the secondary 200-meter freestyle. 

“That’s seven out of seven. And four of these seven are records, and there’s two that’s close to national age group records,” said Ilustre, who admitted that achievements over the past has not sunk in yet. 

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This could be the reason why he’s not feeling emotional, least for now, about his successful campaign. 

“Maganda ang naging competition ko. But, it has not sunk in yet. Maybe later, it will. And I have to be matured and be better after this,” added Ilustre. 

La Salle Zobel’s Maurice Sacho Ilustre topped all his seven swimming events in the Palaro. Peter Atencio

Ilustre, an 11th grader at Zobel started his bid on a bright note by grabbing the top honors in the 200-meter backstroke, with a fast clocking of 1:56.44. This allowed him to erase the course record of 1:58.83 that he himself set two years ago. 

Then, he rallied teammates Patrick Galvez, Ianiko Limfilipino and Keane Ting to 4×100 meter freestyle honors in 3:42.98. 

Ilustre is best remembered for breaking a meet record twice in a day in the 2016 Palarong Pambansa. 

Back then, Ilustre was an incoming 11th grader from La Salle-Zobel. 

He reached secondary boys 100-meter freestyle finish line with a prayer, and erased a 11 year-old course again in 54.15 seconds at the poolside of the Bicol University-Albay Sports and Cultural Complex 

On Day 1, Ilustre bested Christian Anor of Davao in 4:12.94 in the 400-meter freestyle, before taking the 200-meter freestyle gold in 2:08.00, which is 32 seconds off the meet record. 

Two years ago, Maurice Sacho Ilustre ended his campaign  with a bang as he and Seth Isaak Martin emerged as the most bemedalled athletes of the 2015 Palaro. 

He and Martin, who claimed two national junior records, finished with seven gold medals each. But the 15-year old Ilustre’s campaign in the secondary boys’ division of the swimming action was among the most memorable in the weeklong meet. 

Ilustre broke the national junior record he himself set last year in the 200-meter butterfly and claimed a total of six new meet marks in all of the seven events he swept and duplicated his seven-gold sweep, just like last year. 

Nicole Pamintuan (top left) with other awardees.

“Sobrang saya ko. Kasi nagawa ko ulit ang nagawa ko last year,” said Ilustre in recalling his 2015 stint. 

On the last day, he snared two more golds in the 200-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter relay. 

Both were done in record-breaking fashion after he clocked 1:58.83 in the 200-meter freestyle and 3:43.68 in the relays. 

He and his NCR teammates Christian Sy, Drew Magbag and Andrei Pogkiongco first reset the 4:10.66 with a new best time of 4:07, in the preliminaries of the 4×100 meter medley relays. They then ruled the finals with the same time. 

Ilustre broke no record when he ruled the 400-meter freestyle, but made a new mark in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay. 

Ilustre also won the 200-meter butterfly, the 100 and 400 meter freestyle and helped teammates win 4×100 meter medley relays in record-breaking fashion. 

He also went home with the secondary boys’ 100-meter butterfly plum.    

When it was finally over, Ilustre found himself in the company of Salle Zobel standout Nicole Meah Pamintuan and Kyla Soguilon, who shone bright in the secondary and elementary girls’ action. 

The 15-year old Pamintuan ended her stint with six golds, including a record-breaking feat in the 200-meter freestyle. 

“Sobrang saya ko. I achieved what I have been preparing for in training,” said Pamintuan. 

Kyla Soguilon

Then, with Samantha Coronel, Althea Baluyut and Suzanne Himor, Pamintuan bannered NCR to the 4×100 freestyle gold, with Region 6 and region 4-a in second and third. 

Her other gold medal conquests include the 100-meter backstroke, the 100-m freestyle, the 200-meter individual medley, the 4×100 meter and 4×50 meter freestyle relays. 

In the elementary girls’ side, Soguilon took her sixth and final gold medal in topping the 50-meter freestyle. 

“I took it fast, I took it fast,” said Soguilon on her time of 29.05 seconds. 

She finished ahead of Kirsten Tan (silver) and Krisha Apin (bronze), and added her to other feats. 

Her other feats includes the 100-meter backstroke, 50-meter butterfly, the 200-IM, the 50-m backstroke and that 4×50 meter freestyle. She had a lone silver in the 4×100-meter medley. 

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