By MARK REY MONTEJO
LAOAG CITY – Oblivious of the scorching heat, swimmers Titus Sia, Sophia Garra, and Rhiannah Coleman torpedoed the opposition even as arnis and athletics bets continued to make heads turn in their respective events at the 2025 Palarong Pambansa here Wednesday, May 28.
Drawing strength from the presence of his loved ones, the 12-year-old Sia of NCR shone brightest among the day’s record breakers as he completed a golden treble in the elementary boys’ class, including one that stood for over a decade with a performance to remember.
That highlighted his smashing a three-gold haul for the day as he turned the pool into his own playing ground much to the delight of the NCR supporters.
In winning his first gold for the day, Sia posted 2 minutes and 7.86 seconds in the 200m freestyle, breaking Central Luzon’s Rafael Barreto’s time of 2:08.12 that was established in 2013. His second was in the 100m backstroke where he timed 1:05.44 – enough to shatter the Games’ best of 1:06.38 that NCR’s Martin Seth set 10 years ago.
He capped his dominating performance by leading his team to 4x50m medley relay gold – a feat he later dedicated to his mom and older brother – a special child, who was with him from the start of his swimming career.
As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, National Capital Region remained on top of the medal tally with 52 golds, 26 silvers, and 16 bronzes, way ahead of CALABARZON (24-35-19), Western Visayas (16-19-16), Northern Mindanao (16-13-21), and Central Visayas (8-10-13).
“I became more confident, and not too much care about pressure… just enjoyed things and enjoyed every training,” said Sia.
“My coach told me to go for the record, I’m just happy that I was able to achieve this,” added Sia, who still has 50m backstroke, 100m and 400m freestyle, and 4×50 freestyle relay events left in his heavy schedule.
Not to be outdone, Malabon City native Garra splashed her way to the top of elementary girls where she bagged four golds, including two in record fashions.
Garra, 12, shattered Michaella Mojdeh’s record of 2:33.12 in the 200m IM as she registered 2 minutes and 31.41 seconds. She also eclipsed her own record (1:08.50sec) after listing a 1-minute and 07.61-second performance in 100m backstroke.
Meanwhile, National Academy of Sports’ Coleman continued her assault, this time, ruling the secondary girls’ 50m breaststroke after clocking 34.24 seconds, an effort that broke Bicol’s Beatrize Mabalay’s 34.35-sec mark last year.
It was a fitting sequel to 15-year-old Coleman’s 200m-breaststroke triumph the other day.
In athletics, Bohol’s Jhul Ian Cañalita impressed anew after clocking 9 minutes and 23.89 seconds to shatter five-year-old record of Central Luzon’s Jerry Vasquez (9.35.2) mark in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Cañalita reigned supreme as well in the 5000m for his second top honor.
In arnis, Northern Mindanao’s Shayne Mark Monreal, and CARAGA’s Airielle Lape and Queen Fairy Rose Rante raised their gold haul to four – just one shy of
Pasay gymnast Arman Hernandez Jr. (5).
NCR gymnast King Cjay Pernia also bagged his fourth gold after ruling the Cluster 3’s Individual All-Around, Team Championship (Combined IAA scores), floor and vault exercises.
