INQUIRER Sports

LOS BANOS—A big gold rush in aquatics and four contact sports powered host Laguna province to a second straight overall crown in the Bicol-Southern Tagalog leg of the 3rd Philippine Olympic Festival here Sunday.

Laguna collected 34 gold medals in the pool on top of 28 victories in wrestling, muay, karatedo and arnis on the final day for a tournament-best 98 gold, 85 silver and 60 bronze medals.

Swimmer Banjo Borja posted 11 wins topped by prolific performances in the 200-meter butterfly, 100m breaststroke, 200m freestyle, 200m breast, 400m free, 200m individual medley, 1500m freestyle and 200m free relay on the last two days of hostilities.

The Liceo de San Pablo high school senior earlier bagged golds in the 100m free, 100m back and 400m IM in the boys’ 15-and-over class at the Trace Aquatics Center here.

Borja, who captured seven golds in the POF national championships last year, had a formidable support cast that included Ylam Shalev Matba, Joshua Casino and Catherine Bondad, a luxury tanker Christine Grace Tan of Batangas didn’t have.

The 15-year-old Tan from Lipa City emerged as the most bemedalled athlete for the second time in a row after carting home 13 golds, matching the number she won last year.

Tan also lorded it over in the 400m free, 50m free, 200m IM, 200m back, 200m fly, 800m free, 100m breast, 100m fly, 200m breast and 200m free to go with earlier wins in the 100m free, 100m back and 400m IM.

With Tan’s achievements in the pool and 13 golds more from karatedo, Batangas wound up with a second-best 30-10-12 medal tally.

Matba picked up five golds in the 100m free, 200m IM, 50m free, 100m breast and 200m free relay for boys’ 11-12 years old while Casino and Bondad earned four gold medals each in the 10-and-under age bracket.

Arnis also became Laguna’s treasure chest of medals with Kathrine Samonte grabbing three golds.

Heavyweight Reynaldo Palomar, bantam Joebert Gunzaga and lightweight Golouie Dorado bested the field in their respective weight categories in the men’s senior division.