MANILA, Philippines - San Beda and La Salle-Greenhills dominated the first day action in the 90th NCAA swimming competitions, raking in gold medals in record fashions at the Rizal Memorial Pool yesterday.
The Sea Lions and Lionesses lived up to hype as favorites with Frances May Cabrera, Jose Mari Sebastian Arcilla, Christian Dimaculangan, Andrei Lorenzo Manzo and their men’s and women’s 200-meter freestyle relay teams turning in record-breaking performances.
The Junior Blazers, for their part, also posted record-breaking times courtesy of Mark Romiquit, Andrae Pogiongko and their 200-m freestyle relay squad in the high school division of the event organized by a committee chaired by Arellano University’s board representative Peter Cayco.
Cabrera clocked four minutes and 49.78 seconds in the 400-m free, shattering the old record of 4:50.59 she herself posted last year while Arcilla clocked 1:02.74, also a new league juniors mark in the 100-m backstroke.
Dimaculangan took the gold and set a new record in the 100m back in the seniors section with a 1:01.30 clocking while Manzo topped and set a new mark in the seniors division of the 200m individual medley with a new time of 2:13.92.
Cabrera then led the 200-m free relay women’s team of Carla Michaela Chua, Patricia Ella Garcia and Lorelie Lora while Wilfredo Sunglao Jr., Joseph Lance Sanone, Lorenz Joshua Francisco and Joshua Junsay topped the men’s side likewise in record fashion with clockings of 1:57.71 and 1:39.01, respectively.