By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Coraline Montalbo plunged seven medals during the elementary girls’ swimming competition of the 42nd Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural Educational Association (NOPSSCEA) tournament in Bacolod City over the weekend.

A product of Bacolod Tay Tung High School, Montalbo finished the two-day competition with three gold, two silver and two bronze medals to qualify for the Provincial Meet.

Montalbo got her gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly, where she had a new personal best of one minute and 20.91 seconds, along with the 400-m and 200-m freestyles.

She also captured silver in the 200-m individual medley, where she had a new personal best of three minutes and 7.66 seconds, and the 50-m butterfly.

On the other hand, Montalbo’s two bronze medals were captured in the 4×50-m freestyle and individual medley relays.

“As her grandfather, I am proud of her achievements,” Jose Montalbo said.

“Since she was young, she has already shown interest in swimming, so I am very supportive of her,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mark Justin Yu bagged three gold medals in the high school boys’ 200-m, 400-m and 1500-m freestyle categories.

Maxene Hayley Tan Uy took home four medals in the high school girls’ categories — two gold medals in 100-m backstroke and 200-m individual medley, and two silvers in 200-m and 50-m backstroke.

Marc Aeno Almacen, for his part, captured two silver medals in the elementary boys’ 50-m and 100-m butterfly, and bronze in the 100-m breaststroke.

Alexis Bailey Tan Uy was the Bacolod Tay Tung High School swimmer who captured medals when she finished with bronze in the high school girls’ 50-m butterfly./ASC, WDJ