UAAP tankers cap romp in CHED Palaro

The UAAP tankers capped their domination of the swimming event by racking up five more gold medals at the close of the competitions in Day Four of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) National Games yesterday.

Almax Laurel, the younger of the two swimming brothers, ruled the men's 100m butterfly and the 100m freestyle with clockings of 1:01.83 and 55.89, respectively, in victories that came on the heels of his gold-medal performances in the 200m butterfly and the 50m freestyle.

Equally impressive was 20-year-old Marjorie Palumbarit, who eclipsed the women's 800m freestyle meet record of 10:35.05 with a time of 10:18.68 for her fourth gold medal feat. The other golds won by the UP economics student came from the 100m butterfly, 400m freestyle and the 200m butterfly Thursday.

Capping the UAAP squad's romp was Sajaya Jaitulla's two-gold medal haul in the women's 400m individual medley and the 100m breastroke.

Jaitulla, sister of men's 1500 m freestyle gold medalist Jaylaula of the NCAA, swam her way to the gold in the women's 400m individual medley and the 100m breaststroke to add up the two gold medals (200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley) she won the other day.

The golden feats by Laurel, Palumbarit and Jaitulla underscored the UAAP's domination of the swimming event which came to a close yesterday with the association winning 28 of the sport's 31 events.

Those hiked UAAP's total medal haul from 33 golds in Day 3 to 48 at presstime, spiked by 26 silvers and 16 bronzes.