INQUIRER Sports

The tankers of the University of San Carlos (USC) proved that when it comes to swimming, nobody does it better than them.

The USC swimmers made huge waves anew as they ruled the juniors and seniors divisions of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) swimming competition yesterday at the Cebu City Sports Complex swimming pool.

The USC seniors squad made a splash during the first day of competition as they captured a whopping 15 gold medals on top of nine silvers and the same number of bronze medals.

Their juniors squad, on the other hand, was just as good with a haul of 11 gold medals, three silvers and two bronze medals.

Palarong Pambansa gold medalist Loren Dale Echavez was in a class of her own as she shattered two Cesafi records in her three-gold medal stint yesterday.

She won the girls 17-under 200-meter freestyle in record fashion as she touched the wall in just 2 minutes, 15.93 seconds, which broke her previous record of 2:18.43.

She put her name in the record books with her win in the 400-m freestyle, which she won with a time of 4:53.95, eclipsing her old mark of 4:58.12.

Echavez also gained gold in the 100-m butterfly with a time of 1:12.86, three seconds off the old record set by Lynette Ang.

The boys division saw Jebb Cane of USC also get three gold medals. He won the 17-under 200-m individual medley with a time of 2:43.64; the 200-m freestyle with a time of 2:20.74 and the 400-m freestyle with a time of 5:23.57.

In the seniors division, USC’s strong charge was led by Jesse Arriola, John Solon, Gwencent Canada and Claudia Candia. Arriola won the 1,500-m freestyle with a record-breaking time of 19:15.59 and the 400-m freestyle with a time of 4:50.90. Solon was the champ in the 200-m freestyle with a new record of 2:14.16.

Gwencent Canada and Claudine Candia each had two gold medals to anchor USC’s medal haul in the women’s division.

University of Cebu (UC) tankers are in second place in both the juniors and seniors division. They had five gold medals, eight silvers and five bronze medals in the latter and three golds, 12 silvers and seven bronze medals in the former.

Noel Caneda had three gold medals, including one new record in the men’s division. He won he 100-m breaststroke in 1:17.11, the 100-m butterfly in 1:10.23 and the 200-m IM with a new record of 2:26.63. Paula Abigail Vega had two gold medals with her wins in the 400-m and 200-m freestyle.