Two Filipino American swimmers set two Philippine national records on Day 3 of the 2019 Phillips 66 US National Championships in California last Friday.
According to the results released on the official website, the feats of Jarod Hatch and Jean-Pierre Khouzam made them candidates for the national team to the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Their respective times broke the national 100-meter butterfly marks in the senior and junior divisions respectively.
The 21-year-old Hatch set a new 100m record at 53.91 seconds to reset his previous best of 54.36, which he registered last June at the Santa Clara International meet.
Hatch, who will be a junior student of University of California in the coming school year in the United States, first held the record last year when he eclipsed Jessie Lacuna’s time 55.08 at the Pan Pacific Championships.
This is the second time that Hatch has surpassed Lacuna’s mark.
The time that Hatch set moved him closer to the Tokyo Olympics Selection Time “B” 53.52 seconds
The 17-year-old Khouzam, who is competing for the Philippines at the 7th FINA Junior World Championships, set a new juniors national record of 55.56 seconds in the 16 to 18-year-old age group level.
This eclipsed Rafael Barreto’s 55.93 second record, which he clocked at the 41st SEA Age Group Swimming Championships in Brunei two years ago.
This will be Khouzam’s second junior national record.
Last May, Khouzam erased Jessie Lacuna’s 2:03.01 record in the 200-meter butterfly event by clocking 2:00.72 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Bloomington.
He later lowered his time when Khouzam submitted a 2:00.67 at the SE Richard Quick Invitational in USA last June.
Hatch is tipped to join the Philippine National Open this August, while Khouzam is skipping the national qualifiers to the SEA Games.
This is because Khouzam will be representing Philippines at the 7th FINA Junior World Championships in Budapest at that time,
There are two other FilAms who may seek the cut in the national squad. They are Parker Macy and Jonathan Cook.
Macy still has to seek Philippine Swimming Inc. membership next year in time for 2021 SEA Games.
On the other hand, Cook is planning to join the final qualifying event of the 2019 SEA Games, along with Hatch.
Khouzam is skipping the PH National Open since he will be representing the Philippines at the 7th FINA Junior World Championships in Budapest on third week of August.
