Reigning Most Valuable Player Lora Amoguis of Ateneo de Manila University is tied at 69 points with University of Santo Tomas sophomore Patricia Santor in the race for the UAAP Season 86 Girls Swimming Championships MVP award at the conclusion of the third day of action in the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Pool in Malate, Manila.
Both Amoguis and Santor have, thus far, brought home three golds and two silver medals apiece. A third contender, Aubrey Tom of University of the Philippines Integrated School, closely follows the two with 68 points on the back of two golds, one silver, and two bronze medals.
Santor had a busy day three, participating in three of the five individual events at stake, as she took the gold medal in the Girls’ 50m Butterfly and the Girls’ 400m Individual Medley, as well as the silver in the Girls’ 100m Breaststroke.
It was an exclusive show for the UST Junior Tiger Sharks in the Girls’ 50m Butterfly as Santor (29.18) led teammates Ishaelle Villa (29.42), Raina Leyran (29.60), and Singatala Cuevas (30.52) to a sweep of the event.
Santor returned to the pool in the Girls’ 400m Individual Medley to register a time of 5:18.89, good enough for her second gold for the day. Liaa Amoguis of Ateneo, the younger of the Amoguis sisters, finished second in 5:24.42, while Hanna Sales of UST took the bronze in 5:32.92.
Day two record breaker Clara Delos Santos of UST then ruled the Girls’ 100m Breaststroke in 1:17.56, ahead of Santor (1:18.44) and Angela Torrico (1:20.45) of UPIS.
Lora Amoguis had a modest tally of one gold and one silver medal for the day as she reigned supreme in the Girls’ 200m Freestyle in 2:16.13 and was narrowly edged out in the Girls’ 100m Backstroke. Tom took the silver medal for UPS in the Girls’ 200m Freestyle in 2:17.19 while UST’s Ilya Gonzales brought home the bronze in 2:17.26. It was Sanor’s teammate, Villa, who played spoiler to Amoguis in the Girls’ 100m Backstroke as she registered a time of 1:09.10, ahead of Amoguis’ 1:09.67. De La Salle Zobel’s Zia Ranjo rounded out the podium with her time of 1:11.98.
The Junior Tiger Sharks concluded the day with another dominant win in the Girls’ 4x50m Freestyle Relay as Leyran, Cuevas, Kristine Uy, and Gerice Oyaman managed to finish in 1:55.92 for the gold medal, ahead of Ateneo (2:03.15) and UPIS (2:06.49)
UST is on its way to a three-peat as the team standings show their clear leadership with ten golds, six silvers, and six bronze medals for a total of 399 points. Ateneo is also poised to finish a historic second with 220 points, ahead of UPIS (166) and DLSZ (81).
Equally dominant is the boys’ team of UST as they collected five gold medals of the six available for the day to amass a total of 501 points featuring eleven golds, eight silvers and ten bronze medals. Ateneo virtually secured the second spot with 246 points as UPIS (60) and DLSZ (35) continued to battle for the last podium spot.
The day’s highlight was the UST’s Boy’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay team of Ryian Zach Belen, Joaquin Mirasol, Jabrielle Delizo, and Jose Emmanuel Austria who broke the UAAP record with an eye-popping 1:39.09 performance to lower the mark by more than two seconds. Ateneo followed next in 1:43.37 as UPIS took the bronze in 1:52.99.
Renz Santos also delivered two gold medals for UST in the Boys’ 200m Freestyle and the Boys’ 50m Butterfly. Santos registered a time of 1:57.96 in the Boys’ 200m Freestyle to lead teammate Marcus De Kam (1:58.97) to a 1-2 finish. Reigning MVP Ivo Enot of Ateneo finished third with a personal best time of 1:59.48.
In the Boys’ 50m Butterfly, Santos again demonstrated his mastery in leading a podium sweep for the Junior Tiger Sharks. His time of 26.05 seconds was a shade faster than Ivan Radovan’s 26.15 seconds and De Kam’s 26.25 seconds.
The fourth gold medal of UST for day three came from Aishel Evangelista whose 4:56.76 time in the Boys’ 400m Individual Medley was significantly faster than teammate Ivan Radovan’s 5:04.46. Juan Carlos Tabug of DLSZ managed to take the bronze in 5:09.97.
Meanwhile, the Boys’ 100m Breaststroke looked awfully similar to the Boys’ 50m Breaststroke as Ateneo’s Victoriano Tirol (1:08.70) and Miguel Martinez (1:09.65) repeated a 1-2 finish and UST’s Joaquin Mirasol (1:09.71) again took the bronze medal.
The current MVP race leader, Enot, also snagged a gold in the Boys’ 100m Backstroke as he dominated it with a time of 59.88 seconds compared to UST’s Yohan Cabana (1:01.39) and Jullian De Kam (1:02.23).
The MVP race will have an exciting end as Enot, toting three golds, one silver, and one bronze medal for 73 points, is locked in a tight battle for the award with UST’s Santos (67) and Marcus De Kam (64).
The final day of action at the UAAP Season 86 Swimming Championships concludes Sunday with the 1500m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke, 200m Breaststroke, 200m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle, and 4x100m Medley Relay.
