After earning the team's first gold medal in the boys' 13-year-old class 100-meter backstroke in 1 minute and 02.42 seconds, homegrown Jamesrey Ajido set the tone for the Filipino campaign.
Following suit, the German-Filipino Alexander Georg Eichler of Vietnam and the British-Filipino Heather White won the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly events for the 14–15-year-old girls and boys, respectively.
The winning time of 26.83 by White breaks the previous junior national record of 26.88 set by Miranda Renner in the same competition in the 2016 edition, while Eichler's performance of 56.52 engraved his name in the meet record book.
Ajido, a multiple National Junior Record holder for his nation and a FINIS brand ambassador, also won silver in the 100-meter fly while establishing a new Junior National Mark with a time of 57.96, shattering his previous 13 & Under record of 58.20.
White spent a good three months in Vietnam training.
Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh, a FINIS Ambassador and the first Filipina to advance to the semifinals of the World Junior Championship in Lima, Peru, in August last year, earned the silver medal in the girls' 16–18 age group's 100 m butterfly with a time of 1:04.36.
Joshua Gabriel Ang, a fellow countryman, competing at the FINA World Juniors, won a second silver and set a personal record in the boys 16–18 100-meter butterfly with a time of 55.03.
The Nationals added four bronze medals in successful Day 1 competition, including Rafael Isip in the 50-meter breaststroke for men 16 to 18 (29.76), Ava Bautista in the girls 14 to 15 100-meter fly (1:04.07), Gian Santos in the men 16 to 18 200-meter Individual medley (2:09.59), and the mixed 4100 free relay team of Amina Bungubung, Heather White Alexander Eichler and Ivo Enot ( 3:49.66).(Romeo Braceros Jr.)
Photo: Swim League Philippines