ATENEO Blue Knights Swimming Club coach Samuel John Alcos’ Southeast Asian (SEA) Games hopes stays alive after he captured two gold medals in the recently-concluded PSI Long Course Grand Prix at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila.
Alcos, 28, a swimming coach of Ateneo de Davao University since 2015, timed 29.98 seconds to rule the boys 19 and over 50-meter breastroke. He sped past Perry Chua of Quezon City Buccaneers Swimming Club (30.19) and Alfonso Jose Bautista of PCA Stingrays Swimming Club (30.34) who got the silver and bronze, respectively.
His second gold came in boys 19-over 100m breaststroke after checking in at 1:06.40, outclassing Chua who registered a time of 1:08.57.
He was also awarded the Highest Fina Points Achiever trophy.
“Hopefully mag-qualify ako for SEA Games next year. Qualifying window starts next year po pero good po ito to set the tone for next year,” he said in a Facebook interview with SunStar Davao Wednesday, December 12.
He retired from competitive swimming in 2011 after his last Uaap stint but
he continued swimming to stay in shape.
“Pero hindi ko inakala na bibilis pa ako ng ganito,” he said, adding that Bautista is the current UAAP holder in men’s breaststroke, thus, beating the latter is a good gauge for him in upcoming SEA Games qualifiers.
Playing in the SEA Games has been his lifelong dream and since the country is hosting the biennial Games in 2019, he hopes to land a slot in the national team.
Alcos, a 2018 Philippine National Games quintuple gold medalist, had stints in the Thailand National Age-Group, Asian Age-Group in Uzbekistan and Fina World Cup in Singapore.
His ward Francis Greg Espiritu, meanwhile, salvaged a silver in boys 11-13 200m breaststroke and two bronzes in 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke.
Ateneo Blue Knights Swimming Club’s Maica Garcia, Caitleen San Felix and Rey Jacob Aliño also competed in the annual swimfest.