THE cream of the crop of young swimmers will converge at the New Clark Aquatic Center in Capas this weekend for the FINIS Long Course National Championships.
The participants are the medalists and top performers who passed the seeding times in their respective age groups in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao legs.
FINIS Managing Director Vince Garcia said that besides unique medals he personally designed, exceptional swimmers will also receive scholarship grants and the chance to be named FINIS brand ambassador.
“We got this far. We saw a lot of potential swimmers during the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao leg, but this time we expect more as the battle goes down to the best of the best,” said Garcia, an active triathlete and “godfather” of the TODO Paratriathletes team.
Jamesrey Ajido, who set four junior records in the Luzon leg last December 3 also in Clark and swam for the national team in the 44th Southeast Asia Age Group Championships in Kuala Lumpur, won’t be around thus opening the competition wide open.
Ajido, the 13-year-old newest FINIS Brand Ambassador, broke his own national junior record in 50 meters (26.95) and 100m (58.82) butterfly and 50m (29.60) and 100m (1:03.28) backstroke.
Focus will be on the 18 years old class with Ajido’s teammates at the Golden Zoomers team and fellow FINIS Ambassadors National mainstay Kyla Soguilon and Marcus DeKam expected to face stiff challenges.
Garcia also takes pride in welcoming Jarrett Dean Henthornem, the first special child swimmer to win a medal in a FINIS-organized event.
The 19-yrs-old Henthornem, who has a Moderate Autism with Severe mental/intellectual Disability, bagged silver medals in the 200m individual (4:52.98), 100m fly (1:16.43), 50m back (36.01), 100m breast (1:30.15), 50m free (28.88), 50m fly (30.97), 100m back (1:22.61) and 50m breast (39.02) in the Luzon leg.