MANILA, Philippines — Philippine national junior record holder Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh pocketed two golds, two silvers and one bronze in the Philippine Aquatics, Inc. (PAI) Short Course National Trials held at the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Pool in Malate, Manila.
Representing Behrouz Elite Swimming Team (BEST), Mojdeh started her campaign on a high note, nailing gold medal in the women's 200m breaststroke with a time of two minutes and 35.05 seconds.
The 18-year old incoming freshman at University of Southern California outclassed silver medalist Riannah Coleman (2:39.41) and bronze winner Sofia Isip (2:39.47).
Mojdeh continued her impressive showing on the second day, reigning supreme in the 200m butterfly in 2:15.31 to beat Kyla Bulaga, who settled for silver with 2:25.97 clocking and Jindsy Dasion, who took the bronze in 2:26.12.
Besides the two mints, the Filipino-Iranian tanker dubbed as the 'Water Beast' secured two runner-up finishes in 100m butterfly (1:02.33) and 400m Individual Medley (5:09.22).
She also earned a bronze in 200m Individual Medley (2:23.25).
"Congratulations swimmers for having to survive a back to back Long course and Short course meet and finishing it in best time and podium fashion," said BEST team manager Joan Mojdeh.
Not to be outdone was fellow BEST swimmer Geoffrey Liberato who got a silver in men's 50m breaststroke (28.91) and a couple of bronzes in 200m breaststroke (2:20.22) and 100m breaststroke (1:03.54).
On the other hand, Joshua Pak added one silver in men's 100m Individual Medley (58.83) and one bronze in 100m backstroke (57.14).
Immaculate Heart of Mary College-Paranaque student Behrouz Mohammad Madi Mojdeh, the youngest in the field, wound up fifth in the men's 200m butterfly following his personal-best time of 2:16.59.
Ethan Waskiewicz also nailed a personal-best showing in the men's 50m freestyle (25.53).
The BEST squad finihsed third overall in the team standings with 270 points while FTW Royals Swim Club took the top honors with 448 points.
Veteran coach Sherwyn Santiago handles the training program of Royals Swim Club and BEST.
"We are so proud of you all! Thanks to coach Sherwyn for his dedication and passion! And to entire FTW Royals. Special shoutout to Coach Abi Liu and Bellevue Swim club who opened their doors for our swimmers to train in their club and made amazing progress," added Joan.
"And to ATS Singapore for Geof's summer training. We're truly humbled by the positive results of the team's collective efforts," she ended. TMT