Ateneo de Manila University honored two of its most dominant student-athletes during the short-lived UAAP Season 82 tournament on Thursday.
Thirdy Ravena of basketball and Chloe Daos of swimming were hailed as the GUIDON-Moro Lorenzo awardees.
Ravena is the first basketball player to win the Sportsman of the Year award since Nonoy Baclao, who copped the award back in 2010 together with judoka JR Reyes.
On the other hand, this is Daos’ second Sportswoman of the Year citation. She first won it back in 2018 during her rookie year. The 20-year-old also received the honor of this year’s Ambrosio Padilla Athlete of the Year.
And the two stalwarts truly had an epic Season 82 campaign.
To start the year, Ravena was part of the Gilas Pilipinas team during the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
The 23-year-old would then steer the Blue Eagles to an immaculate 16-0 sweep of the UAAP Men’s Basketball Tournament. To cap his collegiate career, he also became the first-ever three-time Finals Most Valuable Player in Men’s Basketball in the 82-year history of the league.
For her part, Daos continued her dominant run in the UAAP pool. She won all seven of her events during the four-day meet last October, increasing her collegiate tally to 21 golds.
In her last swim for the season, she broke the five-year record of fellow Moro Lorenzo awardee Hannah Dato. Daos clocked in a UAAP record time of 2:19.03 in the 200m Butterfly event, erasing Dato’s 2:19.71 mark from the books.
Other nominees for the Sportsman of the Year were reigning two-time UAAP backstroke king Aki Cariño; and UAAP Men’s Fencing Foil Individual event gold medalist Jaime Viceo. The two other finalists for the Sportswoman award were UAAP Women’s Badminton co-Finals MVPs Geva De Vera and Chanelle Lunod.
Daos also bested Romina Gavino and reigning, two-time UAAP Men’s Judo middleweight champ Bernie Margulies.
The crowning of the GUIDON-Moro Lorenzo and Ambrosio Padilla Athletes of the Year citation is a yearly event that is part of the Loyola Schools Awards for Leadership and Service.
The Moro Lorenzo citations recognize athletes “who have shown excellence and utmost dedication in their sport”.
The Ambrosio Padilla award, on the other hand, goes to athletes who exemplify the ideals of the late senator which is mens sana in corpore sano. (‘A healthy mind in a healthy body.’)
