Chua, Paderes grab 3 golds each in national swim trials
XIANDI CHUA swept her three events on Sunday including a thrilling women’s 100-meter freestyle race at the conclusion of the Philippine Swimming, Inc. National Selection bubble at the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac.
Chua, a 20-year-old standout from the All-star Swim Club, clocked the only sub one minute time in the 100m with 59.68 to snatch the gold medal in the 10-swimmer event. Camille Buico of Rising Atlantis Swim Club touched in 1:00.34 to clinch silver by a hundredth of a second over QC Buccaneers’ Chloe Daos.
“My times in this meet weren’t really good because my times went up,” said Chua, who hails from San Juan City. “But I think it’s a nice opportunity to race again because I was able to see where I’m actually at and how I can I improve on it in training.”
John Neil Paderes completed a treble after ruling all three backstroke events. The 19-year-old from BEST Main took the men’s 50-meter backstroke in 27.77 seconds. Ace Seawolves’ Shayne Lugay topped the women’s side in 32.32 seconds.
Miguel Barreto ended his stint on top in the men’s 100-meter freestyle in 53.52, 0.07 seconds faster than De La Salle Zobel’s Sacho Ilustre.
The 18-year-old from Ayala Harpoons earlier topped the men’s 800-meter freestyle in 8:48.39, way ahead of Ateneo Blue Knights Swim Club’s Joshua Del Rio’s 9:15.80.
Hannah Sanchez also bagged a double in the long-distance races after winning the women’s 800-meter freestyle. The 17-year-old from Allstar Swim Club timed 9:57.36.
BEST Main’s Jordan Lobos and Ayala Harpoons’ Thanya Dela Cruz bested their fields in the men’s and women’s 200-breaststroke events with times of 2:21.49 and 2:43.44, respectively.
Another BEST Main standout, Ivan Radovan, ruled the men’s 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:13.71.
Daos averted a personal shutout as she beat BEST Main’s Michaela Mojdeh in the women’s side at 2:22.57 against the latter’s 2:25.22.
The three-day event was supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Bases Conversion and Development Authority and Clark Development Corp.