On a day of fallen records, De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University kept their hold of the top spot of the women’s and men’s divisions, respectively, after Day Two of the UAAP Season 85 Collegiate Swimming Championships, Friday at the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Pool in Malate, Manila.
Still, it was Ateneo’s Thanya Dela Cruz who stole the show.
Thanya Dela Cruz established a new Philippine mark in the 50-meter breaststroke with 31.11, faster than her own national record of 31.35 set during the 2022 PSI Grand Prix National Championships, to lift Ateneo de Manila University to third place with 97 points.
But the Lady Green Tankers’ depth remains imposing to the rest of the competition.
Still, Xiandi Chua kept her hold of being the MVP favorite in the women’s side after taking her fourth gold of the season in the women’s 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:34.07, her second gold in the long-distance freestyle races after taking the 800-m title the previous day with 9:26.53.
Chloe Isleta broke the women’s 200-meter backstroke record twice, establishing the mark at 2:22.66 in the preliminaries before doing it anew with 2:18.40 in the finals en route to the gold.
Chua, Isleta, and the Lady Green Tankers, thus pulled ahead of University of the Philippines with 209 points against the latter’s 163.
Fighting Maroons Gabrielle Purisima, Louise Lacson, Gene Quiambao, and Angela Villamil joined the fray with a new UAAP record of 4:10.95 in the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, breaking the UAAP Season 82 record of Ateneo of 4:11.31. Camille Buico pulled off the upset of the season so far after pulling the rug of Isleta in the women’s 100-meter butterfly with 1:02.72 over the latter’s 1:03.37.
On the men’s side, the Blue Eagle rookies showed up in all of the day’s individual events with the titles for the lead with 190 points.
Philip Joaquin Santos paced the Ateneans with the gold and the new UAAP record in the men’s 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:08.96, breaking a 10-year-old record set by DLSU’s Johansen Aguilar at 2:09.29.
Joshua Del Rio bagged his second gold of the season after winning the 800-meter freestyle the other day with a gold in the 400m on Friday with 4:11.54. Rafael Isip won the 50-meter breaststroke with 29.63, while Rafael Barreto took the 50-meter butterfly with 55.95.
The Green Tankers kept in step with Ateneo with 161 points, closing the day with a record-breaking swim at the 4×100-meter freestyle relay with Josemaria Roldan, Sean Gabriel Cruz, Jaren Tan, and Seb Wong with a time of 336.25.
The Fighting Maroons, though, made strides to close the gap with 144 points, highlighted by its silvers in the 50-meter breaststroke with Gerard Samson and in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay with Joshua Vitangcol, Rafo Torres, Franco Dela Rosa, Hans Chua.
University of Santo Tomas is in fourth place in both men’s and women’s with 38 and 72 points, respectively.
