University of Santo Tomas completed its quest for the back-to-back golden double in the high school division following a dominant conclusion to the UAAP Season 85 Swimming Championships, Sunday at the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Complex in Malate, Manila.
The Junior Female Tigersharks amassed 650 points and the Junior Tigersharks collected 658 markers to clinch their second and third UAAP titles this season. This is also UST’s fourth girls’ title in seven years, while it is the fourth boys’ title in five.
“The points speak for itself. Malaki ‘yung pagkakaiba (namin) sa mga kalaban,” UST coach Cyrus Alcantara said. “It’s a pandemic thing. Kahit pandemic, the swimmers did whatever they can — their roots, wherever para makapag- training and to perform well.”
It was their young guns Aishel Evangelista and Patricia Santor that helped UST capture the titles, with the two winning the Rookie of the Year plums. Evangelista ended with 64 points, while Santor collected 75 markers.
Nicholas Radovan, Hugh Parto, and Roz Encarnacion provided the individual honors in the boys’ 200-meter butterfly, boys’ 50m freestyle, and girls’ 200m breaststroke, respectively, to put the finish in this championship run.
Radovan stopped the clock at 2:11.19 for that butterfly title, while Parto won the freestyle gold with 25.09. On the other hand, Encarnacion collected that breaststroke crown at 2:47.13.
The relay teams of the back-to-back champions, though, closed out their show with two golds in the boys’ and the girls’ 4x100m medley relays. The quartet of Yohan Cabana, Shawn Castro, Johannes Tanchongco Jr., and Jose Austria ruled the competition with 4:12.79, while the squad of Quincy Nahe, Ixidorre Cajucom, Sinagtala Cuevas, and Chloe Laurente reigned over with 4:48.47.
Ateneo first-time swimmers Ivo Enot and Lora Amoguis were the Most Outstanding Swimmers of the high school division as they helped the school’s boys’ and girls’ teams to second-place and third-place finishes, respectively, with 374 and 134 points in total.
Enot won the boys’ 50m backstroke with 28.38 to end his debut as the top swimmer in the division with a total of 99 points after four days of competition. On the other hand, Amoguis closed her maiden run with the gold in the 50-m backstroke with 32.43 to finish with 105 markers.
University of the Philippine Integrated School pulled through with a runner-up finish for the girls’ division with a total of 191 points, thanks to the two titles won by Season 82 Rookie of the Year Aubrey Tom. The Junior Fighting Maroon took down the 200-m butterfly gold with 2:29.68 and the 50-m freestyle crown with 28.56.
De La Salle Zobel’s Alejandro Carandang made the last day count with a gold in the boys’ 1,500-m freestyle with 17.33.59, just 0.14 seconds ahead of Radovan.
The Junior Green Tankers ended in third place in the boys’ division with 83 markers ahead of UPIS’ 41. The Junior Lady Green Tankers ended in fourth place on the girls’ side with 87 markers.
