MAKING WAVES: Olympian-trained Garra bags fifth swim gold

CEBU CITY — Sofia Garra of National Capital Region (NCR) broke another record in the elementary girls 50-meter backstroke event as she picked up her fifth gold medal in the 64th Palarong Pambansa on Saturday at the Cebu City Sports Center.

The 12-year-old swimmer from De La Salle Araneta University said she is just as thrilled to pocket another gold in this prestigious multi-sport conclave for student-athletes in elementary and high school.

Garra’s time of 31.96 seconds was enough to beat the previous Palaro record of former national team swimmer Dorothy Hong set at 32.62 back in the 2006 Palaro in Naga, Camarines Sur.

“I’m just so happy to break another record here in the Palaro,” said Garra, who is trained by 2000 Sydney Olympic swimmer Jenny Rose Guerrero.

Garra also hold records in the elementary girls 100-m backstroke, 200-m medley relay with Gabriel de Leon, Alesandra Martin, and Rielle Antonio, and the 400-m medley relay with Martin, Adrienne Tabucoy and Gabrielle Ocampo.

Garra likewise attempted to bag a sixth gold in the elementary girls 100-m butterfly event but settled for silver as Martin beat her to it with a time of 1:08.30 minutes.

Garra only tallied a time of 1:10.82 minutes while Althea Abao of the Davao Region claimed the bronze with a clocking of 1:14.04 minutes.

As of 6:30 p.m., NCR tops the lead in the overall medal tally with 36 golds, 21 silvers, and 33 bronzes.

Meanwhile, Jasmine Mojdeh of CALABARZON won her fourth gold medal after clocking in 1:03.82 minutes in the secondary girls 100-m butterfly event.

Mojdeh, 17, is liking her chances of sweeping all of her individual events, including the 200-m individual medley (IM) on Sunday.

“I really want to compete in all my five individual events because I wasn’t able to do so when I was in elementary,” Mojdeh said.

“Not to brag but I think my performance right now is good and I am looking to break the record in the 200-m IM.”

TJ Amaro of CALABARZON also made heads turn as he clocked in 56.50 in the secondary boys 100-meter butterfly event.

Amaro, who also owns the Palaro record in the secondary boys 50-m butterfly, erased the 56.78 time of Jamesrey Mishael Ajido.

In athletics, Meljun Sabidor broke a 22-year-old Palaro record in the secondary boys javelin throw after tallying a distance of 59.90m.

The Grade 11 student of Basiawan National High School eclipsed the Alleloid Lumabao of 59.18 meters back in Naga in the 2002 Palaro.

CALABARZON sits at second place with a 30-17-27 gold-silver-bronze medal tally while Western Visayas takes third place with a 22-20-21 haul.

Day 4 starts as early as 6 a.m. in the same venue as the elementary girls 1500-m event taking place.