Oct. 24 2016, 6:54 p.m. – THE UST Tigersharks finished at fourth place for the second straight year in the UAAP swimming tournament, falling behind powerhouses Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle University and the University of the Philippines.
UST capped the Season 79 swimming tilt with two silver medals in the men’s division for 84 points, and two silver and three bronze medals in the women’s division for 129 points.
Ateneo took the overall swimming championship in the men’s division with 603 points, while UP ruled the women’s division with 444 points.
“This was a good season for the team. Almost 80 percent of my swimmers did their best times, which was my major instruction before the tournament started,” UST head coach Cyrus Alcantara told the Varsitarian.
“Compared with last year, my team has improved but we have to train harder in the pool to land a podium finish next year,” he said.
Jux Keaton Solita clinched silver in the 1,500-meter freestyle to give the Male Tigersharks their second medal, after he won silver in the 800-meter freestyle event during the first day of the competition last Oct. 21.
Danica Claudia Locsin, Julianne Torres, Celyn Parco and Isabelle Gubat nabbed a bronze medal in the 400-meter medley relay event.
In the juniors’ division, the UST boys team brought home the championship with a 7-5-6 gold-silver-bronze medal haul. The girls’ squad collected five gold, eight silver and five bronze medals to finish second behind the De La Salle-Zobel.
UST’s Christian Sy, Mark Jiron, Gabriel Guerrero and Sean Terrence Zamora set a new record in the 400-meter medley relay, 4:06.84 seconds.
Likewise, Junior Female Tigersharks Francheska Bacay, Jesse Kirei Tan, Camille Buico and Elaine Esmille broke the 400-meter medley relay record with 4:44.66 seconds.
UST still has the most number of UAAP swimming titles with 32 and 30 titles in the women’s and men’s championships, respectively.
