ANTIQUE — Sacho Ilustre added another gold medal in the Palarong Pambansa when the prolific National Capital Region swimmer won the secondary boys’ 100-meter butterfly at Binirayan Swimming Pool in San Jose de Buenavista town here on Thursday.

The De La Salle-Zobel student and reigning UAAP MVP clocked 57.68 seconds for his fifth gold medal of these Games. He also won the 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 400m medley.

“No rivalry with my friends in NCR. It helps because we help each other. It becomes easy because you see your friend doing his best. You get pushed as well,” Ilustre said.

“Nakakatulong iyong sigaw ng mga supporters kahit habang naglalakad ako sa pool. It really brightens up the competition.”

Ilustre’s Big City teammate, Jerald Jacinto, capped his Palaro campaign with another gold when the University of the East high school student set a new best time (2 minutes, 9.87 seconds) in secondary boys’ 200-meter backstroke, beating the Palaro record he himself set during the heats (2:11.49).

It was Jacinto’s 4th gold here, following victories in 100m backstroke, 200m medley and 400m medley.

More swimming records fell thanks to SOCCSKSARGEN’s Thea Canda, who claimed the gold in the 400-meter freestyle (4 minutes, 47.70 seconds), 4 seconds faster than the previous best mark set in 2014.

In secondary boys’ basketball, the NCR and Southern Tagalog basketball teams are just a win away from setting up another championship match after trouncing separate opponents in the quarterfinal round at EBJ Gymansium in Antique Thursday.

Defending champion NCR continued to dominate the competition, crushing the Cordillera Administrative Region, 102-47, while CALABARZON, represented by San Beda High School in Taytay, Rizal, survived an upset try in an 83-76 win over SOCCSKSARGEN.

In the semifinals, NCR will take on Central Visayas, which beat Davao Region, 79-65, while CALABARZON battles Western Visayas, which advanced to the final 4 after a 78-71 victory over CARAGA.

In secondary level taekwondo, NCR collected 7 gold medals topping the boys’ featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and light-middleweight divisions for boys, and the flyweight and bantamweight divisions for girls.

In the overall medal standings, NCR now has 69 gold, 44 silver and 30 bronze medals to all but secure the team championship. Western Visayas (26-14-26) and Southern Tagalog (19-39-36) ranked 2nd and 3rd.

For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.