UNIVERSITY of the Philippines remained on top of the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Fencing leaderboard after Day 2, thanks to a one gold-one bronze haul on Friday at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila.
Juliana Gomez successfully defended her epee individual throne in a rematch of the Season 85 final against De La Salle University’s Cyrra Vergara in a come-from-behind 15-14 thriller.
A bronze from Angela Dayro in the sabre individual put the Fighting Maroons still in the driver’s seat after the individual events, adding to the one gold and one bronze the foilists bagged the previous day.
“I feel like I just hit a bull’s eye because the target was the gold, but I was able to add to what Nana Carbonell did during the first day. It was honestly such a great feeling that we have a good chance of winning the overall for the women’s,” said the back-to-back champion Gomez.
University of the East leaned on the heroics of reigning back-to-back MVP Queen Dalmacio to keep the second spot in the standings.
The 23-year-old national team standout duplicated her win over University of Santo Tomas’ Janna Catantan last season in the sabre individual, with a 15-9 decision this time.
Catantan’s bronze put UST in a tie with DLSU, as the Lady Green Fencers secured silver from Vergara and the bronze from Krups Edlinag — both in epee.
Kaku Dela Serna bagged Ateneo de Manila University’s first medal of the season with the other bronze in sabre.
On the other hand, the 11-peat-seeking UE Red Warriors and the De La Salle overtook UST in the men’s tally after the foil individual events.
Collei Felipe, the Season 85 MVP, took down sparring partner Robert Cabaero to retain his foil title with a 15-8 clinic in the final.
Green Fencers Lorenzo Mercado and Reindell Lacerna captured the two bronzes in the final individual event of the collegiate side.
In the high school division, Opao Catantan conquered the sabre individual gold to help virtually clinch the 13th Girls’ title for UE, winning past fellow Junior Lady Warrior Adrienne Lising, 15-12.
Tuy sisters Krystal and Kathleen from UST got the two bronzes in the said event, but remained in third place, as De La Salle Zobel is unperturbed in second at 0-1-2 gold-silver-bronze tally.
Aubrey Fernandez and Nina Canlas then sealed the deal after a Final clash in the girls’ epee, pushing Miyake Capina and Martina Vacay to the bronze-medal finishes.
DLSZ is still second at 0-1-2, while UST remained third with three bronzes after two days.
The Junior Warriors padded in the boys’ lead with a 1-2 finish from Louis Shoemaker and James Lim in the foil individual.
UST’s Angel Aberilla and Ateneo’s Derek Perez completed the podium in the day’s lone boys’ event.
