For THE ninth straight year, UST has shown once again IT IS lord of the UAAP jungle by grabbing its 34th overall general championship and wrapping up its Season 69 campaign on a high note.
UST won 13 UAAP titles in 26 disciplines for a whopping 331 points, relegating perennial rival University of the Philippines-Diliman (UP) and Far Eastern University (FEU) to second and third places with 254 and 218 markers, respectively.
After pacing the first semester with a commanding 162 points, UST fueled its second-semester onslaught with titular exploits in men’s and women’s tennis, men’s baseball, men’s football, and women’s volleyball on top of bridesmaid finishes in men’s and women’s athletics, women’s football, women’s badminton, and men’s fencing. UST capped the tail-end of its UAAP rundown with 169 more points.
The España-based athletes mustered a huge 77-point lead, a booming upturn from their 60-point edge over the Diliman-based squad last season.
“From the start I knew that we had a strong chance of retaining the overall title because of the athletes’ undying motivation to stay on top,” Felix Michael Silbor, athletic moderator of the Institute of Physical Education (IPEA), told the Varsitarian.
UST began its title-retention bid with virtuoso performances in men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s taekwondo, men’s judo, women’s swimming, women’s chess and women’s table tennis to outshine UP, which could only assert its might in women’s swimming and women’s judo.
Sweep list
The Lady Spikers finally woke up from a 10-year slumber to bag their 13th volleyball diadem in an impressive 25-11, 25-22, 25-19 conquest of the FEU Lady Tamaraws in Game 2 of their best-of-three finals tussle.
The Male and Lady Tennisters also fashioned a twin-kill despite sporting a youthful roster.
The Male Tennisters halted a two-year skid with a 3-0 finals whitewash of a seasoned UP crew, while their female counterparts whipped UP, 4-1, for their first title in four years.
Bannered by a slew of veterans, the Golden Sox escaped the upset axe against darkhorse Adamson University en route to another sweeping finish.
From a 3-2 nail-biter in Game 1, UST used its composure to the hilt against the tenacious Falcons to post a 5-3 humdinger in Game 2 for their 22nd UAAP crown.
In football, the Golden Booters banked on their steel-nerved enforcers in a thrilling penalty shootout to hack out a 4-2 squeeker over FEU and win their first UAAP title in six years.
The Lady Booters, however, faltered in the last minute of their pulsating encounter with FEU, 0-1, to settl e for runner-up honors anew.
Although the Male and Female Tracksters failed to dislodge FEU from the top for the second consecutive year, they still made an impact with record-breaking feats from team captain Benigno Marayag and Season 68 Rookie of the Year Bernardita Mag-Aso.
Marayag eclipsed the 1938 long jump standard of 7.07 meters when he leaped a distance of 7.17 meters while Mag-Aso clocked two minute and14.21 seconds in the 800 meter run to shatter the eight-year-old record of two minutes and 14.68 seconds set by Anna Leah Hugo of University of the East (UE) for a 16-23-13 aggregate medal haul.
Vengeance
After yielding its throne to bitter foe UP last season, the Tiger Judokas relived their glorious “six-peat” as they nipped the Maroons by a whisker in a tension-packed finals encounter to avenge the Lady Judokas, who failed to defend their title after losing four key players this season.
Meanwhile, the Male Fencers surprised the opposition as they carved a modest second-place finish with a 2-1-2 gold-silver-bronze effort to imrpove their lowly fourth-place finish last year.
In contrast, the Lady Fencers languished at fourth place once more with only three silvers and two bronzes to show.
Likewise, the Lady Shuttlecockers showed signs of recovery, placing second to FEU after wounding up third last year.
As the Tigresses methodically thumped FEU in the finals to rule the hardcourt once more after an 11-year hiatus, the Female Tigersharks staged a “three-peat” with a 4-14-11 gold-silver-bronze harvest against archrival UP for their 16th overall title.
On the other hand, the Lady Woodpushers crowned themselves back-to-back champions with 31 points to subdue FEU and UP.
Injury somehow hampered UST’s titular crusade in men’s volleyball and softball. The Tiger Spikers, who placed second last year, dropped to third place, while the ‘Softbelles’ finished behind Adamson and UP for the nth time.
Despite making waves last season, the Male Woodpushers and back-to-back champions Male Shuttlecockers stumbled at fifth place.
In the juniors division, UST notched 105 points to clinch the overall plum against Season 68 general champion UE, which came in second with 103 points. Anthony Andrew G. Divinagracia
