Multi-titled junior internationalists Jasmine Mojdeh and Vietnam-based Heather White stamped their class anew in their respective divisions as the Philippine BEST (Behrouz Elite Swimming Team) continued its dominance on the second day of competition in the Philippine Swimming Inc.-organized National Age-Group Championships on Saturday at the newly built Teofilo Ildefonso Swimming pool inside the historic Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
The 16-year-old Brent International School student Mojdeh dominated her three events, while the Filipino-Briton and ABC International School Vietnam swimming protegee White won in two events in their respective age-group classes to lead the BEST squads to a two-day haul of 20 golds, 20 silver, and seven bronze medals in the tournament, which will serve as tryouts for the national training pool and junior team.
Nicknamed the ‘Water Beast’ by the local swimming community, Mojdeh, coming off an impressive three-gold medal sweep on the first day of the competition on Friday, delivered in the 50-m Fly with a time of 29.62 seconds, as well as in the 100-m breast (1: 18.33), and 400-m Individual Medley (5: 16.51) in the girls’ 16-18 class.
She previously dominated the 50-m breast (35.67), 100-m fly (1: 04.17), and 200-m Individual Medley (2: 29.35).
White, 15, was also impressive in the 200-m free (2:14) and 50-m fly (28.96) of the girls’ 14-15 class.
She stretched her dominance in the 200-m IM (2: 30.33), 100 Fly (1: 05.62), and 50-m Free (27.49) of the tournament, which attracted over 300 swimmers from various swimming clubs and organizations sanctioned by PSI.
“We’re very happy with the performance of our swimmers, especially Jas and Heather. As a test of long-term training and perseverance from the grassroots level to becoming the elite of BEST and Swimming League Philippines, we can really see the result. Their exposure to tournaments abroad is also a big thing,” said BEST team manager Joan Mojdeh, regarding Jasmine’s recent participation in the prestigious Melun, France swim fest, where the 16-year-old national junior record holder took home one gold and one silver.
Yohan Cabana also contributed in the 200-m back (2:16) of the boys 16-18 class. He first won gold in the 100-m back (1: 02.67) and 200-m IM (2: 19.29) on Friday, while Marcus De Kam clinched the win in the 200-m free with a time of 1: 59.51 and silver in 50-m fly (26.40) in the boys 16-18 class.
After winning gold in the 1,500-m free (18: 10.93), 16-year-old Ivan Radovan finished silver in the 400-m IM (5: 00.31) and bronze in the 200-m free (26.64), while John Neil Paderes got his second silver in the 200-m back (2:14) and Heather’s older brother Ruben White won bronze in the 200-m free (2:03).
For BEST Lucena, Peter Dean paced the team with victory in the 200-m Back (2:21) and bronze in the 400-m IM (5:15.19) in the boys 14-15 class. On Friday, he dominated the 100-m Back (1:06) and placed second in the 200 IM (2:24), while Ashby Canlas got her silver in the 100-m Breast (1:12.65) and Julian De Kam, 15, won silver in the 100-m Back (1:08.10), 1500-m Free (18:47.24) at 400-m free (4:31.07).