13-year-old Sophia Rose Garra wins Palarong Pambansa gold, breaks national records

Sophia Rose Garra, a 13-year-old swimmer, won gold medals at this year's Palarong Pambansa and recently broke two national age-group records in the Philippine Aquatics Inc. National Tryouts for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games.

Garra set new marks of 1:06.50 seconds in the girls' 13-under 100-meter backstroke and 30.70 seconds in the 50m backstroke, surpassing her previous records.

In a competitive field that included Olympian Kayla Sanchez and other SEA Games champions, only the top two finishers per country will secure spots on the team for Bangkok.

National team swimmer Xiandi Chua won the girls' 200m individual medley with a time of 2:18.38, while Sanchez qualified in both the 200 meter freestyle and the 50 meter butterfly events.

Filipino-American Gian Santos led the boys' 200m freestyle with a time of 1:51.61, followed by Miguel Barreto and Nathan Farrell Jao.