LED by Filipino-American Jarod Jason Hatch and Xiandi Chua, swimmers affiliated with the Philippine Swimming Inc. dominated the four-day national swimming team tryouts for the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games over the weekend at the New Clark City Aquatic Center in Capas, Tarlac.
Hatch and Chua were among several standouts in the meet organized by the World Swimming-formed Stabilization Committee in cooperation with the Bases Conversion Development Authority, which owns the venue.
Hatch broke the national record in the men’s 50-meter butterfly twice, clocking 24.27 seconds in the heats then ruling the finals with a time of 23.96 seconds.
He broke the previous Philippine mark of 24.34 seconds set by Tokyo Olympics veteran Luke Gebbie during the finals of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held at the same venue.
His time was within striking distance of the bronze medal clocking of 23.84 seconds set by Indonesian Glen Victor Sutanto in the last Vietnam SEA Games.
Hatch also topped the men’s 50-meter freestyle finals in 23.59 seconds while Rafael Barreto (23.82) and Ruben Williams White (23.97) took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Chua emerged as a solid gold medal contender in the women’s 200-meter backstroke in the 32nd Cambodia SEA Games, topping the event in 2:17.79, eclipsing the gold-medal time of 2:18.60 set by Chloe Isleta in the Vietnam SEA Games.
Mishka Sy (2:26.32) and FJ Catherine Cruz (2:31.22) placed second and third in the event, respectively.
As the country’s lone swimming gold medalist in the Vietnam SEA Games, Isleta was considered “seeded” in the event for the national team to Cambodia, according to a reliable source.
Benefitting from overseas training in China and Australia, Chua also copped first place in the women’s 200-meter freestyle in 2:05.40.
She gave veteran Jasmine Alkhaldi a run for her money in a thrilling down-the-wire battle in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, with Alkhaldi emerging with a hairline win in 57.40 seconds to Chua’s 57.42.
