LADY EAGLE Hannah Dato scored her fourth medal in the 18th ASEAN University Games swimming competition, placing second in the Women’s 50m Butterfly finals to earn the country its first silver. Dato, who secured four out of five of the delegation’s awards in the last two days of the tournament, came close to securing the win, falling short of the first place finish with a finals time of 27.82 seconds behind Thailand’s Jenjira Srisaard, who clocked in at 27.24 seconds to take the gold.

The two-time Most Valuable Player of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) admits that the shortage of swimmers has greatly burdened the team, forcing several members to compete in multiple events across consecutive days of the competition. However, despite struggling with the hindrances caused by the comparably small size of the contingent, Dato is happy that she and her teammates put up a fight in the pool to produce positive results.

“I was nervous going into the event because I’m more of a mid-distance to distance swimmer,” she says, “but I’m very happy to have won the silver.”

Following Dato’s example, the female tankers exhibited their undying grit, nearly pulling off podium finishes in two other events. Ariana Herranz ranked 4th in the Women’s 100m Backstroke with a finals time of 1:07.83 behind third-place winner Patricia Yositan Hapsari of Indonesia. Similarly in the 400m Freestyle Relay, Lady Eagles Dato, Herranz, Romina Gavino and Winona Tee Ten of the University of the Philippines placed 4th with a finals time of 4:09.11 behind Malaysia at 4:02.67.

In the men’s events, Giancarlo Silva and Aldo Batungbacal came in at 6th and 7th respectively in the 200m Breaststroke, while Axel Ngui ranked 7th in the 400m Freestyle and 5th in the 100m Backstroke. Ngui, Batungbacal, Eman Dapat, and Silva closed the day’s events with a fifth place finish in the 400m Freestyle Relay, clocking in at 3:39.72.

Entering into the fourth and final day of the competition tomorrow, the Philippines has its last opportunity to tally in medals in the swimming tournament of the AUG, but Dato is confident that the team can make the most out of the day’s events by surmounting the challenge with a determined mindset and a winning mentality.

“The spirit has to be there from beginning until end,” expresses Dato, “We just have to keep on fighting.”