Santos, Coleman splash way to more wins in national swimming trials

MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino-foreign swimmers Gian Santos and Riannah Coleman continued their dominant run in the Philippine Aquatics Inc. (PAI) 50m long course national trials at the Teofilo Yldefonso swimming pool in Manila on Saturday.

Santos brought home his third gold medal in the PAI trials on Saturday, courtesy of the boys’ 16-18 class 200m with a time of 1:51.39.

This is more than four seconds ahead of the Southeast Asian Age Group qualifying time standard (QTS) of 1:55.45.

Earlier this week, the incoming freshman at the Columbian University in New York broke the QTS in 400m freestyle of 4:07.74 with a time of 4:01.26. He then punched in at 2:18.30 in the 200m breaststroke division, more than four seconds better than the QTS of 2:22.78 seconds.

“Just trying my best and possibly inspire the youth here. I hope to represent my country and my long-term goal is to make it to the Olympics,” Santos said.

Coleman, for her part, claimed her third straight QTS performance after winning the girls’ 14-15 100-m breaststroke clocking 1:14.12 to break the standard time of 1:14.50.

Coleman earlier showed out in the 200 meter breaststroke, with a 2:43.55 performance, breaking the 2:45.54 QTs and the 50m breaststroke with a time of 33.96 seconds, 0.02 seconds better than the 33.98 QTS.

“I feel so blessed. I just want to thank my parents for their support and to coach Dax (Halili) for believing in me. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for and it’s an amazing feeling if I represent my country in a high-level international meet,” she said.

Jamesray Ajido also shone in the boys’ 14-15 50 meter backstroke and 200m freestyle, clocking 28.57 and 2:02.35, respectively, to grab his fifth and sixth gold medals in the meet.

Micaela Jasmine Mojedeh also triumphed in the girls’ 16-18 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:15.40 seconds.

Mishka Sy claimed her third gold medal, winning the girls' 19-over 200m free at 2:12.40 seconds.

Other gold medal winners who broke the QTS are Maxene Hayley Uy with a time of 31.15 seconds; Shania Joy Baraquiel in the girls 16-18 50m backstroke with a time of 30.60 seconds; Billie Blu Mondenedo in the girls 16-18 200m freestyle with a time of 2:08.34 seconds and Fil-Mongolian Enkhmend Enkhmend in the boys 14-15 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:06.49.