Jessie Khing Lacuna (above) and Maurice Ilustre. INQUIRER File Photos
London Olympian Jessie Khing Lacuna tests young pool ace Maurice Sacho Ilustre in the national finals of the 6th Speedo G-League Philippine National Long Course Swimming Championship today at the Rizal Memorial pool.
Lacuna, hands-down the top local male swimmer after pocketing a silver medal and a pair of bronzes in the recent Singapore Southeast Asian Games, will race with Ilustre, a 16-year-old prized find from De La Salle-Zobel, in the finals of the boys’ 1500m freestyle event.
Ilustre recently won seven gold medals in the Luzon qualifying leg of the Philippine National Games, two victories short of matching the 22-year-old Lacuna’s feat of nine gold medals during the 2013 edition of the PNG.
A total of 444 swimmers from 32 club teams from Metro Manila have made it into the finals along with tankers from nine other clubs from Luzon, three from the Visayas and the Cagayan de Oro Swim Club from Mindanao.
Equally interesting is the girls’ 800m freestyle featuring national team member Hannah Dato and chief rivals Kirsten Chloe Daos of QCSC Buccaneers Swim Club and Raissa Regatta Gavino of Ayala Harpoons Swim Club.
The meet is sanctioned by the Philippine Swimming Inc. and backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.