Harpoons dominate Speedo swim

MANILA, Philippines - The Ayala Harpoons underscored their pool dominance as they romped off with their second Speedo G-League Nationals overall crown in in the Speedo National Long Course Swimming Championships at the Rizal Memorial Complex recently.

The tankers of coach Archie Lim splashed their way to an aggregate of 1,374 points to beat 55 other teams for overall plum. Makati Skipjacks was a far second with 656 points, followed by the Quezon City Buccaneers with 639.50.

Leading the top performers were Johansen Aguilar, 20, and Fahad Alkhaldi, 17, who snared three gold medals each in the individual open events. Aguilar ruled the 200m butterfly and 200m and 100m backstroke while Alkhaldi topped the 400m, 100m and 200m freestyle races.

Double gold medalists Franz Marquez (200 and 400m individual medley) and Evan Brian Uy (50m butterfly and 50m freestyle) also joined the honor roll, as did Arianna Herranz, who snared the mints in the 400 IM, 100m and 200m backstroke events in the women’s division, and Hana Dato, who dominated the 100m butterfly and 200m IM.

Eleven upstarts received the I Am Extreme (IMX) award, a citation given to swimmers with the most number of FINA points earned from their consistent participation in the Speedo G-League Long Course Swim Series.