DAVAO CITY SWIMMERS RULE DAVRAA MEET 2024
DAVAO City’s swimming team dominated the four-day Davraa Meet 2024 swimming competition, amassing a total of 40 gold medals, 31 silvers, and 23 bronzes, securing its position as the overall champions once again at the Davao del Norte Sports Complex in Tagum City on Friday, April 5.
Davao del Norte finished a distant second with 18 golds, 15 silvers, and 13 bronzes, followed by Tagum City in third place with 10 golds, 16 silvers, and 13 bronzes.
Several standout performers contributed to Davao City’s success. Paolo Miguel Labanon, Rissa Angelian Sahagun, and Stacey Bernice Requiza each scored perfect sevens in their respective events, sweeping all of their competitions.
Paolo Miguel Labanon, a 17-year-old Grade 11 student at Mapua Malayan Colleges Mindanao (MMCM), dominated five individual events: secondary boys 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1,500m freestyle, and 200m butterfly. He also played a crucial role in securing two gold medals for Davao City in the secondary boys 4x50m medley relay (with Pietro Dominic Requiza, Jabahri Dilangalen, and Jon Raphael Rodriguez) and 4x100m medley relay (with Pietro, Juan Alessandro Suarez, and Dilangalen).
Mission accomplished for Labanon, who competed in his last Davraa Meet.
“All I can say is that I did a good job for all those years and I’m proud to compete in the Davraa since Grade 4,” said the six-foot champion in a Facebook interview with SunStar Davao, dedicating his victory to his family, coaches, and friends.
Meanwhile, Sahagun, a 12th grader from Ateneo de Davao University, also performed exceptionally in her last Davraa Meet, earning five individual golds (secondary girls 200m and 400m IM, 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke) and leading her team to two golden finishes in secondary girls 4X50m medley relay (with Stacey, Zhamella Mirantes, and Zoe Raut) and 4X100m medley relay (with Stacey Requiza, Mirantes, and Jemeina Pagaran).
Sahagun expressed her joy, saying, “My times have stagnated for almost five years, and to finally beat them made it all worth it. I dedicate the wins to those who kept believing in me.” (Read full story on sunstar.com.ph/davao)