Miguel Barreto anchors NCR’s mighty charge

DAVAO CITY—Swimmer Miguel Barreto applied the finishing touches to National Capital Region’s (NCR) dominance with a record-shattering feat in the 2019 Palarong Pambansa.

The 16-year-old from Malolos, Bulacan, highlighted a haul of seven gold medals by winning the secondary boys’ 200-meter freestyle on Friday that smashed the two-year-old record after clocking 1 minute and 56.07 seconds.

Sacho Ilustre, also of NCR, held the old standard of 1:56.44, set two years ago in Antique.

Egged on by the Big City tankers at poolside, Barreto pulled ahead of Raymund Paloma of Western Visayas (2:00.53) and Ted Laminta of NCR (2:01.80) in the last 100 meters.

Phillip Joaquin Santos and Xiandi Chua also contributed to NCR’s 32-gold collection in the secondary division with six gold medals each.

Metro Manila’s taekwondo jins and gymnasts likewise delivered as NCR bagged a 20th consecutive overall title with only basketball, football, volleyball and baseball left to be played.

NCR compiled an unassailable haul of 73 gold, 64 silver and 46 bronze medals with a day of competition left.

At far second is Calabarzon with 50 gold, 42 silver and 67 bronze medals followed by Western Visayas (45-28-43), Soccsksargen (23-36-29) and Bicol (23-18-28).

Chua broke Nicole Meah Pamintuan’s 2017 record (2:10.14) in the secondary girls’ 200-m free with a 2:09 swim where the 18-year-old sped ahead of Janelle Lin of Ilocos (2:14.50) and Jie Talosig of Soccsksargen (2:16.30) by a wide gap.

Chua also joined hands with Hannah Sanchez, Althea Michel Baluyut and Camille Buico in clocking 4:05.19 in the 400-m free relay to eclipse the 2018 mark set by Calabarzon (4:10.28).

Overall, Chua reset five Palaro records while Barreto and Santos erased three standards apiece with the latter showing his worth in the 200-m backstroke and 200-m individual medley.

Both Santos and Barreto, who also rewrote the mark in the 100-m butterfly, combined their efforts in the 400-m free relay.

Another bright performer was Vince Jayson Buhayan, who was crowned the fastest man of the Palaro with victories in the 100- and 200-m sprints.