LAOAG. — With a hint of baby fat around his tummy, elementary school swimmer Titus Sia is not your typical lean, mean and ripped athlete, bristling with muscles in all the right places.
But looks can be deceiving, and Sia showed his rivals that determination and discipline, plus talent, are just as vital for success, sweeping all of his last events Thursday to emerge as the most bemedalled athlete in the 65th Palarong Pambansa at the Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr. pool here.
Underscoring his enormous potential, the National Capital Region tanker opened his campaign early in the morning by clinching the elementary boys’ 400-meter freestyle in a sizzling time of four minutes and 31.39 seconds, shaving more than four seconds off the 15-year mark of 4:35.42 swet by Omar Dacera in the 2009 Palaro edition in Tacloban, Leyte.
Underscoring that there was still very much left in his 12-year-old tank in the afternoon, Sia secured his sixth individual mint by topping the 50-meter backstroke race in 30.93 seconds, then capped his memorable stint by anchoring the NCR 4×50-meter freestyle team to victory in 1:53.90.
The golden triple made the incoming Grade 7 Xavier School student the outright outstanding athlete with one day to go in the meet hosted by the Ilocos Norte provincial government, led by outgoing Gov. Matthew Manotoc and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
As of press time the National Capital Region reigned supreme in the overall medal standings with 62 gold, 34 silver and 18 bronzes, with Calabarzon (Region 4-A) a poor second (28-39-24), Western Visayas (Region 6) in third (21-23-19), surprising Northern Mindanao (Region 10) fourth (17-14-20) and Central Luzon (Region 3) rounding up the top five (9-10-15).
After two runner-up finishes, NCR’s Jameray Ajido finally struck pay dirt in his pet event, the 50-meter butterfly, setting a new record of 55.19 seconds, sinking the old mark of 56.50 seconds of Region 4-A’s Jose Albert II in last year’s Palaro in Cebu City.
“What makes Titus stand out is his dedication and discipline. When he wants something, he is willing to work hard and sacrifice for it,” said Xavier swimming coach Miguel Ibazeta of his prized swimmer.
Central Visayas hawkeye Naina Tagle also shared the spotlight by hitting four golds, two of them in record-breaking fashion, and one silver in the girls’ high school archery competitions at the Venvi Realty Corp. State Open field in neighboring San Nicolas.
With 2017 Malaysian silver medalist and elder sister Nicole Tagle watching to inspire, Tagle shot 1294 points to top the girls’ high school 1440 event, dumping her old mark of 1278 set in the 2023 Marikina edition of the Palaro.
The Silliman University high school student topped the 30-meter event with a best score of 343, one point more than the previous mark of 342 set by Ilocos Region’s Irish Angel Licudan last year in Cebu City.
The bubbly archer likewise won the 50-meter (306) and 60-meter (337) contests and settled for the silver in the 70-meter event (308), rounding out a productive outing.
“Before I approach the shooting line, I pray and I remember why I love archery and what I’m doing archery for. My family and all the people that have supported me on the way, like my friends also and teachers and classmates,” Tagle disclosed as her motivation to excel.
In a huge upset in the boys’ high school secondary division of basketball, St. Robert’s International Academy of Iloilo, carrying the colors of Western Visayas, stunned fancied defending champ National University-Nazareth School of NCR 76-67 in the quarterfinals.
