VIGAN CITY – Swimmers Samantha Coronel of Makati and Jalil Taguinod of Santiago City continued their dominance yesterday as they raised their gold haul to four each in the 2017 Batang Pinoy Luzon leg at the President Quirino Stadium here.
Coronel, a 15-year-old student from Colegio de San Agustin, overpowered her rivals in the girls 13-15 100-meter backstroke by clocking 1 minute and 6.58 seconds before ruling the 50m butterfly in 30.27 seconds to emerge as the most bemedalled athlete in her division.
Coronel’s win in the 100m back was made more impressive by the fact that her time is better than the winning record of NCR’s Nicole Pamintuan in the recent Palarong Pambansa held in Antique.
Pamintuan won the Palaro gold in 1:07.12.
“I’m happy with these wins. I’m more focused on my journey because I want to compete in more international races in the future,” said Coronel, who gets inspiration from her coach, national para-athlete record-holder Arnel Aba.
“Coach (Arnel) always motivates and inspires us to become better athletes. He always says if he can do it, so can we,” Coronel said.
Taguinod, who already bagged three gold medals in the first two days, added another mint after winning the boys 12-under 200m breaststroke in 2:46.01.
His earlier victories came in the 50m breast (33.58sec), 50m back (39.92sec) and 200m individual medley (2:31.29).
But their bids to win a fifth gold were foiled in relay events with Taguinod’s team finishing eighth and last in the boys 15-under 200m medley relay while Coronel and company likewise settled for 8th in the girls 15-under 200m medley relay.
Parañaque’s Mikaela Mojdeh also took the spotlight by winning her third gold in the girls 12-under 50m butterfly in 31.29sec after Wednesday’s victories in the 400m IM (5:35.87) and 100m fly (1:08.52).
