Palaro 2013: Castrillo shines with fifth swimming gold

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental – National Capital Region tanker Regina Erin Castrillo shone the brightest by coming through with her third record-breaker and a fifth gold medal even as Central Luzon swimmer Rafael Barreto and NCR gymnast Regine Reynoso harvested four mints apiece in the Palarong Pambansa here Wednesday.

Castrillo, 12, for her part, came through with the worthiest performances as she smashed a third mark in two days, this time eclipsing the six-year record of 2:37.87 NCR's Ingrid Illustre set in Koronadal, South Cotabato by submitting 2:37.16 in the 200-m individual medley for elementary girls.

She then buckled down to work to add the 100-m free and 4x100-m medley relay to her gold haul to emerge as not only the most bemedaled athletes thus far with five, but also with most marks she re-arranged with three in this weeklong event sponsored by the provincial government and backed by the Phl Sports Commission and Smart.

"It's not surprising that she (Castrillo) is winning because not only she's determined but she also worked and prepared hard for this event," said Castrillo's coach Luika Dacanay, a former Palarong Pambansa multiple gold medal winner herself and a former Southeast Asian Games silver medalist.

Castrillo ripped the standard in the 50-m fly as she timed in 29.68 in the prelims that surpassed a 17-year-old record of 30.65 forged by NCR’s Lynette Ang in Koronadal, South Cotabato. She later led the NCR to the 4x50-m medley relay gold in 2:13.52, erasing the seven-year mark of 2:14.31 also set by NCR in Naga City.

Barreto, 13, came through with his fourth gold in the 100-meter freestyle by clocking 58.24 seconds while shattering the 13-year-old record of 58.61 forged by NCR's Ronald Guiriba in the Millenium edition of the Palaro in Bacolod City.

The Guiguinto, Bulacan native unleashed a gold rush as early as Day One when he copped the 200-m freestyle, 50-m butterfly and led the 4x50-m medley relay team of Beaver Jess Pangan, McTracy John Alindogan and Marc Audrey Santos.

It was also the second record-breaker for Barreto, who smashed the four-year mark of 2.09.33 set by Davao's Omar Philip Dacera in Tacloban in the 200-m free the day before.

"I really trained hard for this," said Barreto.

Reynoso, for her part, weaved her magic at the Norsu Cultural Center where she added the floor exercise and horse vault golds for secondary girls artistic gymnastics to join Barreto in the elite quadruple gold medal club.

Bedazzling everyone with her grace and flexibility, Reynoso reigned supreme in floor exercise where she garnered 13.050 points and the horse vault where she amassed 12.5130 to add up to her earlier victories in the individual all-around and team events the day before.

She missed winning a fifth mint after winding up with a bronze medal in the balance beam behind Cotabato's Precious Valerie Pama and NCR teammate Mikaella Riassa Sunga, who took the gold and silver with 11.725 and 10.700, respectively.

Another NCR tanker, Raissa Regatta Gavino, joined the record smashing by destroying the 16-year-old standard of 36.83 Central Visayas' Khalyla Khun registered in Naga City by clocking 36.63 in the 50-m breaststroke.