PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan – Records fell like dominoes in athletics and swimming after three days of action while tanker Arvin Taguinota collected his fifth gold medal in the 2024 Batang Pinoy Championships at the RVM Sports Complex here.

Mico Villaran accounted for one of the 14 new meet records so far in athletics after joining forces with Ryzen Facto, Cloui Loquias and Churynthya Tecson for Bacolod City in resetting the under-18 4x-400-meter universal relay mark.

The Bacolod City bets timed 3 minutes and 47.72 seconds to erase the one-year-old mark of 3:54.49 set by City of Davao’s Milchay Moreno, John Rods Bongcayat, Mary Jane Pagayon and Gorbachev Pepito.

“Mahirap yung training, pero sulit po naman. Kailangan talaga every race ibigay lahat ng pwersa,” said the 17-year-old Villaran, who also reigned supreme in the U18 400m hurdles and 110m hurdles.

Quezon City bets Janzen Dela Cruz, Irvin Gacula, Elreb Taduran and James Boni also posted a new record in the U18 4x100m relay after clocking 43.52sec to eclipse the old mark of 44.02sec set by Iloilo City’s Sam Bantillo, Jetro Severo, Adrian Pangarotan and Kent Burdan last year.

Pangasinan’s Nardo Celzo also got a piece of the limelight after leaping to 14.48m to set a new record in U18 boys triple jump. He erased the old mark of 14.05m of Misamis Oriental’s Marc Cabiluna set in 2023.

Masbate’s Alessandra Capellan posted 11.20m effort to equal the meet record of Davao City’s Desiree Alaba in U18 girls triple jump.

In swimming, 10 new marks were established at press time with the latest coming from Mabalacat City’s Catherine Cruz, who ruled the girls 16-17 100m backstroke in 1:08.32 — almost a second faster than the 1:09.05 record set by General Trias’ Ishaelle Mae Villa last year.

Taguinota, meanwhile, became the most bemedalled swimmer so far after winning his fifth gold medal in the boys 12-13 4x50m freestyle relay with teammates Ricardo Delgado, Marcelino Picardal and Jefferson Saburlase (1:47.44).

He earlier swam 1:04.30 for the 100m backstroke gold, while his previous victories came in the 200m individual medley, 100m free and 200m back.

Meanwhile, Aklan continued to dominate pencak silat courtesy of Lyca Pascual and Ma. Feroz Retiro (artistic double junior novice girls); Frenz Gregorio and John Jizmundo (artistic double junior elite boys); Mary Chantal Jizmundo, Marzhel Regalado and Nathalie Regalado (artistic trio junior novice girls); and Jharred Mabasa, Jason Patron and Justine Patron (artistic trio junior novice boys).

At the PALECO Court, City of Baguio bagged three golds in taekwondo coming from Vashti Budadda (cadet female category 2 kyorugi), Zyra Lee (junior female light middle), and Ian Lonogan (junior male middle).