SISTERS Liaa Margarette and Lora Micah Amoguis turned the pool into their own playground and collected three gold medals in the Batang Pinoy Mindanao leg on Wednesday at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum City.
The younger Liaa dominated the girls’ 12-under 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley, while Lora made waves in the girls’ 13-15 200-meter individual medley to jack up Davao City’s medal haul in the competition for athletes aged 15 and below.
Liaa registered one minute and 11.2 seconds to grab the gold in the 100-meter butterfly before storming back to rule the 200-meter individual medley with a clocking of 2:39, a performance that was a fitting follow up to her golden haul of six mints in the Davao Region Athletic Association meet last week.
Liaa still has a chance to match that feat as she sees action in four more events in the next two days.
Lora, on the other hand, clocked 2:35.06 to clinch gold in the 200-meter individual medley before settling for silver medal with a time of 33.97 seconds in the girls’ 13-15 50-meter backstroke. Gene Heart Quiambao of Bukidnon beat her for the gold with 33.69 seconds.
Still, the performance drew attention toward the sisters, who are looking to test their mettle against prominent athletes from Manila in the national finals in October either in Tagbilaran City or Ormoc City.
“We motivate each other. When she feels down, I motivate her. When I feel down, she motivates me, as well. That’s how close we are,” said 13-year-old Lora, who still has four more events.
“I’m excited to play in the national finals and race against other swimmers. Even though there are other swimmers from other regions, my goal is not to win medals. I just want to beat my time. That’s it,” Lora added.
“My dream is to beat the Palarong Pambansa record,” said Liaa, 11-year-old kid wonder from The Abba’s Orchard School who already represented the country in the recent BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games in Brunei Darussalam.
Also emerging victorious in swimming were Rain Tumulac, Blu Cabilete and Yuan Taojo of Davao and Albren Dayapdapan of Dipolog.
Cabilete clocked 29.91 to shine in the boys’ 13-15 50-meter backstroke, while Taojo registered 40.85 in the boys’ 12-under 50-meter backstroke. Dayapdapan tallied 32.65 seconds in the boys’ 13-15 50-meter breaststroke and Tumulac timed 1:14.68 in the boys’ 12-under 100-meter butterfly.
In archery, 15-year-old John Carlo Loreno harvested five gold medals for Koronadal City with victories in the cadet boys 30-meter, 40m, 50m, 60m and single Fita events.
“I hope to win more,” said Loreno, who is in his third Batang Pinoy appearance.
Precious Micah Basadre also shared the podium with victories in the cadet girls 30m, 40m, 50m and single Fita, while younger brother Jeremiah Adrian ruled the cub boys 20m, 30m, 50m and single Fita.
Youngest sibling Justin Matthew reigned supreme in the bowman boys Olympic round and single Fita.
In cadet boys taekwondo, Cagayan de Oro City snared three gold medals courtesy of Lee Young Hwan (welterweight), Carlos Pizana (heavy) and Von Xedric Faller (fin).
Kier Carlos Buico (middle) and Carl Andrew Cagas (light) won two golds for Butuan City, while Davao City also went home with two golds from John Louis Zaballero (bantam) and Arnold Alesna (feather).
In arnis, Tacurong City harvested 13 gold medals at the City Mall in Tagum courtesy of Maria Veronica Ilagan (cadet girls traditional individual 1 weapon), Althea Charmene de los Santos (cadet girls traditional individual 2 weapons and nontraditional individual 1 weapon), Jeko Jan Heyres (junior boys traditional individual 1 weapon), Princes Sheryl Valdez (junior girls traditional individual 2 weapons and nontraditional individual 1 weapon), and Cristian Dave Bucio (junior boys nontraditional individual 2 weapon).