SISTERS Liaa Margarette and Lora Micah Amoguis harvested a total of nine gold medals, five silvers and one bronze to lead Holiday Gym Swimming Club's (HGSC's) medal haul of 19 golds, nine silvers and six bronzes at the close of the Philippine National Age Group Swimming Championships 2019 at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum City over the weekend.
The 12-year-old Marga of Abba's Orchard School, made waves anew by sweeping five golds, two silvers and one bronze. She topped the girls 11-13 200m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 400m individual medley (IM), 800m freestyle and 400m freestyle. Marga salvaged silvers in 200m IM and 100m breastroke then copped a bronze in girls 200m freestyle.
Marga said her swim records were acceptable as it would also make her qualify again for the Southeast Asia Age-Group Swimming Championships.
"I give all the credits to my coach Haroon. He’s one of the people who believed in me that I could do better than anyone else. He thinks I’m stronger than this," Marga said.
Lora, 13, for her part, ruled the girls 11-13 200m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 50m backstroke and 200m IM then settled for silvers in 200m freestyle, 400m IM and 100m freestyle.
Lora told SunStar Davao, "It was a pretty good performance and it was way better than my performances in Batang Pinoy and Davraa. It's nice because my times were good and I get to qualify in SEA Age Group which is my last yer in 13 and under category."
She also thanked Cali, her parents and God for their support and giving her strength.
Ivo Nikolai Enot, meanwhile, annexed five golds in boys 11-13 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m IM and 50m backstroke events.
HGSC head coach Haroon Cali, in a Facebook interview, lauded his swimmers. "It was a good performance. Daghang medal nakuha sa team. Daghang naka personal best sa ila swim mostly mga bata nako nga swimmers (The team won a lot of medals. So many of the swimmers surpassed their personal best time including the younger swimmers)."
The other HGSC gold medalists were Rissa Sahagun (girls 11-13 50m breastroke, 100m breastroke, 200m breastroke), Matthieu Adrien Tao (boys 14-15 200m backstroke) and Rizbon Yarra (boys 11-13 butterfly) while the other silver winners were Erika Lois Suelan (girls 16-18 200 breastroke), Yarra (boys 11-13 1,500 freestyle, 400m freestyle) and Gabriel Laolao (boys 11-13 100m breastroke). Suelan (Girls 16-18 50m breastroke, 200m IM), Philip Sahagun (boys 16-18 200m breastroke) and Tao (boys 14-15 100m backstroke) were among the bronze medalists.