SOPHIA GARRA of NCR creates ripples with 4 gold medals so far, including 2 new Palaro records. — PSC

LAOAG CITY – There’s a new shark in town.

Neophyte tanker Titus Rafael Sia emerged as the newest sea titan up North after shattering two meet records for three gold medals so far to anchor National Capital Region (NCR)’s surge midway through the 2025 Palarong Pambansa on Wednesday at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Memorial Stadium aquatics center here.

The 12-year-old Mr. Sia from San Juan City made ripples in his first Palaro plunge, resetting the marks in elementary boys’ 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke with an ultimate goal of winning all his seven events — no less than at the home province of Ilocano Shark and two-time Olympic medalist Teofilo Yldefonso.

Mr. Yldefonso, also a war hero who became the first Filipino and Southeast Asian medalist in the Summer Games, is the silhouette on the official logo of the 65th Palaro being hosted by Ilocos Norte for only the first time since 1968.

And Mr. Sia, who swam 4,000 to 5,000m in the past month to brace up for glory and history, may have dived his way to a huge potential as the next Mr. Yldefonso in the making.

“I just keep on swimming and swimming. I just want to swim and break all the records (possible),” said Mr. Sia, an incoming Grade 7 student in Xavier School San Juan, who still has three individual and one relay events.

He clocked two minutes and 7.86 seconds for gold in 200m freestyle, breaking the 2:08.12 time of Central Luzon’s Rafael Barreto in 2013 Dumaguete edition. In the 100m backstroke, he timed 1:05.44 to surpass the 1:06.38 mark of NCR’s Seth Isaak Martin in the 2015 Tagum games.

But Mr. Sia, who also won gold in the 4x50m medley relay with team NCR, wasn’t the only shark from Metro Manila who suddenly rose from the nearby Caaoacan Beach some eight kilometers from the Laoag City plaza.

De La Salle University’s Sophia Rose Garra, who dominated Cebu with six mints, later on clinched two new records of her own in the elementary girls for a total of W gold medals so far. Like Mr. Sia, she’s out to go 7/7.

Ms. Garra (1:07.61) did not only break her own record of 1:08.50 in the 100m backstroke she set in 2024 Cebu Palaro but also bumped off the 2:33.12 mark of Michaela Jasmine Mojdeh in the 200m individual medley in 2018 Vigan games with 2:31.41.

Hailing from Malabon, the incoming Grade 7 student also ruled the 200m freestyle and 4x50m relay with team NCR to become the most bemedaled swimmer so far.

Two more NCR tankers in Patricia Mae Santor of University of Santo Tomas (200m butterfly, 200m IM) and Raina Samantha Leyran (50m backstroke, 4x50m medley relay) seized two golds each as 17-time champion Metro Manila pulled away with two days to go.

Thanks to a huge harvest in swimming and gymnastics led by five-gold winner Arman Hernandez Jr. from Pasay, NCR zoomed to 52 gold, 26 silver and 16 bronze medals to create a huge gap from CALABARZON (24-35-19) and Western Visayas (16-19-16).

Meanwhile, Jhul Ian Cañalita captured his second record-breaking gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase with 9:23.89 to beat the 9:35.2 mark of Central Luzon’s Jerry Vasquez set in 2019 Davao Palaro.

Mr. Cañalita of Tabuan National High School in Bohol the other day clocked 15:16.31 seconds in the 5,000m to surpass the 15:38.4 record of Davao Region’s Cresencio Cabal in the 1998 Bacolod games.

Other multi-medalists in Day 3 so far were arnisadors Shayne Mark Monreal (4) of Northern Mindanao, Airielle Ashley Lape (4) and Queen Fairy Rose Rante (4) of CARAGA as well as NCR gymnast King Cjay Pernia (4) and Northern Mindanao’s James Custodio III (3) in arnis.

More than 20 athletes have two golds each in the race for the most bemedaled athlete entering the final two days of the country’s premier scholastic sports competition organized by the Department of Education and the Philippine Sports Commission featuring 18 regions. — John Bryan Ulanday