Mandaluyong squad foils Ilustre in NCR swim meet

MANILA, Philippines—A plucky Mandaluyong squad foiled Muntinlupa swimming phenomenon Maurice Sacho Ilustre’s bid of a golden sweep by ruling the high school boys 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the close of the National Capital Region swimming meet at Rizal Memorial pool Thursday.

Anchored by Miguel Barlisan, the 2014 Palarong Pambansa 100-meter freestyle champion, the Mandaluyong tankers took the gold in three minutes and 49.31 seconds, relegating Ilustre and the Muntinlupa bets into second with a time of 3:53.50. Las Piñas City took the bronze (3:57.47).

Ilustre earlier ruled the high school boys’ 200-meter freestyle event in 2:00.82 and the 200-meter butterfly in 2:10.47 for his fifth and sixth gold medals in the event hosted by Parañaque City.

“It was hard to catch up but I am still happy about my performance,” said Ilustre, the outstanding secondary male athlete in last year’s Palarong Pambansa in Santa Cruz, Laguna, where he swept his seven events.

Seth Isaak Martin raised his total to five golds in topping the elementary boys’ 50-meter freestyle (27.43) and 200-meter individual medley (2:32.16). He fell one gold shy of a sweep after his Parañaque squad landed fourth in the 4×50-meter individual medley relay.