Reigning three-time MVP Hannah Dato is in her final UAAP stint, but all is still well for the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles, as a new generation of swimmers have taken up the cudgels for the queen eagle.
After the first day of action, the Lady Eagles have collected three gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal in five events en route to a 33 point lead in the team standings.
Rookie Kirsten Daos debuted for the Lady Eagles by securing a gold medal in the 800m Freestyle with her time of 9:38.04, followed by fellow Atenean Romina Gavino (9:48.45) and University of the Philippines Lady Maroon Nadine Tee Ten (9:50.08)
Daos returned to the pool with a silver medal performance in the 100m Freestyle by touching in at 1:00.17 behind teammate and UAAP 79 ROY Andrea Ngui, who went below the minute mark with her time of 59.65 seconds. Tee Ten again kept the Lady Maroons in the thick of the tournament by securing the bronze medal in 1:01.17.
Tee Ten finally clinched her own gold medal in the 200m Individual Medley by clocking in at 2:31.22, ahead of a pair of Lady Eagles, rookie Courtney Gray (2:31.90) and graduating senior Ariana Herranz (2:32.49).
With her three podium finishes, Tee Ten leads the MVP race by collecting a total of 35 points. Five Lady Eagles follow her namely Daos (27), Gavino (20), Herranz (18), Gray (16) and Ngui (15).
The Lady Maroons’ team of Ma. Kristina Bartolome, Joy Rodgers, Janna Taguibao and Ariana Canaya made some noise in the 4x50m Medley Relay by securing a new UAAP record at 2:04.65, erasing the old mark of 2:05.04 they previously held. DLSU finished second in 2:11.30, while Ateneo’s third place finish was nullified due to a swimmer jumping too early – the same infraction that cost UP the championship in Season 78. Incidentally, it was Ateneo who won the title due to UP’s lapse in the same relay event back then. Thus, the University of Santo Tomas claimed the bronze medal with their time of 2:13.86.
The Lady Eagles successfully made up for this early blunder by capping the night off with a gold medal performance in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay, featuring team captain Julia Balanag, Kristine Santos, Beatrice Batungbacal and Dato. Each Lady Eagle weathered the furious rallies of their counterpart Lady Maroons to secure the gold in 9:22.87. UP finished second in 9:29.35, while UST claimed the bronze in 9:59.13.
UAAP Season 80 Men’s Swimming tally after Day 1
ADMU – 116
UP – 83
DLSU – 26
UST – 25
NU – 6
On Deck
400m Freestyle
50m Breaststroke
100m Butterfly
200m Backstroke
4x100m Freestyle Relay
The Preliminary Session begins at 8:30am while the Finals Session begins at 3:00pm.
