Ilustre East Swimming Club, led by Patricia Mae Santor and Kristoff Daniel David, pocketed five more gold medals even as Aishel Evangelista continued to shine despite difficult weather conditions in the Congress of Philippine Aquatics (COPA) National Capital Region ‘One For All-All For One Swimming Championships Saturday, May 18, at the Teofilo Ildefonso Swimming Center in Malate, Manila.
After winning 21 gold medals in the opening day on Friday, the IESC swimmers of national coach Ramil Ilustre stamped their class as Santor and David triumphed anew in their respective events to boost the team’s bid for the overall title.
A Grade 11 student at the University of Santo Tomas, the 16-year-old Santor topped the girls’ 16-yrs 100m freestyle, clocking one minute and 04.16 seconds to beat over Savinnah Oliveros of Flying Lampasot (1:04.29) and Jhoey Gallardo of Coack King Club (1:06.99) to hike her gold medals hauled to six.
It was a fitting sequel to her four victories and a runner-up finish in the opening day as she reigned in the girls’ 16-under 400m Individual Medley (5:21.84), 200m freestyle (2:18.47), 100m butterfly (1:06.89), while leading the squad in the 400m medley relay (4:56.87). She had a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke.
David, 17, from Antipolo City, claimed his second gold medal after winning the boys 17-yrs 50m backstroke in 29.22 seconds against Kiko Mirasol of Betta Team (30.86) and Janne Simeon of Flying Lampasot (31.74). He topped the 400m Individual medley (5:09.03) on Day 1.
Evangelista, a consistent medalist in the international stage, added two more medals as his tribute to his late father-coach Elcid, claiming victory in the boys’ 14-yrs 100m freestyle (57.56) and finishing runner-up to Kean Paragatos (31.34) in the 50m backstroke with a timed of 31.39.
On the opening day of the meet that is serving as a fund-raising for his father, Evangelista humbled the field in 400m IM (4:53.63), 200m freestyle (2:03.58), 100m butterfly (1:03.22), and 200m backstroke (2:27.58).
Other Day 2 winners for Team Ilustre were Raven Alcoseba in girls’ 18-over 50m back (33.10) and Von Andrei Pinon in boys 12-yrs 50m back (34.02) and 100m free (1:03.72).
