BORACAY — Flexing its swimming muscles to the hilt, Vietnam swept the six-kilometer mixed relays in both age groups of the 4th Southeast Asia Open Water Swimming Championships presented by the Philippine Sports Commission Saturday. 

Under fair conditions anew at the 1.5K course overlooking the Boracay Newcoast, the Vietnamese tankers were in a class of their own in the 14-18-year-old and 20-year-old above divisions of the meet organized by the Philippine Aquatics Inc. (PAI) and sanctioned by the Southeast Asian Swimming Federation. 

Ngoc Vin Dho, Kha Ni Nguyen, Tu Uyen Le Huynh and Van Dung Cao had a combined time of one hour, 15  minutes and 43 seconds to clinch the gold in the 14-18-year-old class. 

Vin Thabao Nguyen, Thi Bac Ngoc Vo, Thi Thuy An Pan  and Gu Phuc Tran were tops in the older category, clocking 1:13.20, in the competition organized by the Philippine Aqua Inc. and  sanctioned by the Southeast Asian Swimming Federation. 

Thailand (1:16.50) and Singapore (1:20.33) took silver and bronze, respectively, in the 14-18-year-old division while the Thais  (1:16.45)  and Indonesians (1:20.21) did the same in the 20-year-old above class. 

With most of the Pinoy tankers still familiarizing themselves with  the intricacies of open water swimming, the country’s campaigners finished fourth and last in both divisions of  the championships also backed by the Aklan provincial and Malay municipal governments. 

In the 14-18-year-old bracket, Alexander Chu, Nuchs Veronica Ibit, Graziella Sophia Ato and Anton Paulo Dominick Della clocked 1:22.34, which coincidentally, was the same time as the older quartet of Zhyhed Phoenix Pajas, Makayla Bettina Fetalvero, Stacey Arabelle Bee and Rio Stephen Coliyay. 

“I tried my best to catch up in the last leg of the relay but the Singaporean swimmer ahead of me was just too far ahead,” Della said of his anchor leg in the 14-18-year-old race. 

“Perhaps if we had more time to train together we could have performed better,” added Della, the most bemedalled high school swimmer with  four golds in the last Palarong Pambansa, rued. 

Bella Aaliya Pano led a 1-2-3 PH finish in the girls 16-17-year-old 3K festival event with a gold-medal time of 40:11.49, followed by Dominique Gabrielle Lepaco (50:25.27) and Samantha Dainyhel Jamelarin (50:30.06), respectively. 

Sharing the spotlight was the oldest participant in the 3K men’s festival event, Vernan Certeza, 85, of Jaro, Iloilo, who, astonishingly, needed just under 90 minutes in completing the event. 

PAI secretary general Eric Buhain saw a silver lining in the performance of local swimmers, noting that the majority of them were still transitioning from the shorter distances of indoor swimming to the challenges of the longer open water discipline. 

“We are sowing seeds for the future with these young swimmers, an investment in open water swimming that will pay off in the long run as we aim to aggressively catch up with the rest of the region,” Buhain said. 

“Given time, we aim to be at par if not better than our Southeast Asian neighbors.”