15th Milo Little Olympics: Swimming records tumble

CEBU, Philippines – The swimming event of the 15th Milo Little Olympics Visayas Finals yesterday ended with five records broken at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Of the five meet records broken, the most interesting and rare is that of the secondary girls 100m breast stroke, with Silliman University's Yona Academia having the last laugh posting a minute and 28.15 seconds to smash USC's Ara Denise Echavez's 1:31.40 set last year.

What made it rare is that there were four swimmers who actually broke last year's record including Echavez herself, but her efforts were not enough to get the gold and retain the mark under her name.

University of San Jose-Recoletos' Lorens Goyenechea placed second in 1:29.62, while former record-holder Echavez settled for bronze in 1:30.81.

University of San Carlos-BED's Kirk Ebon earned six golds spiced up with a record-smashing performance in the 100m freestyle with a 1:10.11 clocking, erasing Anthony Linn Navarro's 1:10.57 last year.

The three other record-breakers were West City Elementary School in the 200m freestyle relay with the time of 2:25.43, Dumaguete Science High's John Paul Bayona with the time of 1:16.53 in 100m breast stroke and UC in the 400m medley relay with the time of 5:22.93.

Michael Ichiro Kong also stole part of the limelight by taking away two golds at the end of the two-day swimming event.

Over at the oval, UC's Roy Villahermosa broke the meet 400m hurdles in 58.76 seconds, but could not be confirmed as of presstime due to the absence of the previous records in athletics.

After two days of action, USC-BED emerged to be a darkhorse in the secondary division after leading the charge with 55 points total.

Silliman University and defending champion UC shared the second spot with 40 points apiece at the end of the swimming and taekwondo events while the Abellana National School is at third spot with 27 points.

UC athletic director Bernard Ricablanca, however, is still smiling as only two events are yet done out of the 12 events featured.

In the elementary level, USC spearheaded the cast with 55 points followed by Silliman with 30 points as West City Elementary School posted 25 points. (THE FREEMAN)