UST ATHLETES made their mark in the Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission (POC-PSC) National Games in Bacolod last May 22 to 29.
The Tiger Judokas led the way for the National Capital Region with a 5-5-3 gold-silver-bronze medal haul.
“Most of the competitors are still playing in the UAAP, they (Judokas) showed that they are still the team to beat in the UAAP,” said then coach Jojo Arce.
“But we need to take a deeper look into their shortcomings and weaknesses, so they may further improve.”
The Tiger Jins also collected a total of four gold medals: UAAP Most Valuable Player Camille Manalo (light welterweight), fellow RP mainstays Paul Romero (featherweight), Jose Anthony Soriano (middle-heavyweight), and Christian Dela Cruz (welterweight). Ernest Mendoza settled for a silver in the middle-heavyweight category.
“This competition was very important to us,” Romero said in Filipino. “If they beat us, they would replace us in the National team.”
UST Fencers cruised to a twin-gold finish by alumnus Harlene Orendain-Raguin and Tiger coach Emerson Segui in the women’s Epee and Men’s foil divisions, respectively.
Raguin who graduated from UST in 2005, said she retained her winning form since training with the national team even during her varsity years in college.
Sand ladies
In beach volleyball, the duo of Lady Spikers Maruja Banaticla and Judy Caballejo, representing Manila, finished second after losing to Iloilo’s representatives Michelle Laborte and Nerissa Bautista, 14-21, 21-19, 11-15, in the championship game.
Former Lady Spiker Aiza Maizo led the NCR-2 women’s volleyball team to a third place finish, while its men’s squad was starred by Tiger Spiker alumnus Henry Pecaña.
Wobbled captain
Michael Paña, former Tiger Paddlers team captain, was denied a podium finish and stumbled to fifth place.
A national team standout, Paña battled a gritty crew of veteran paddlers who used to play for the national team.
“The nationals really had a higher level of competition compared to the UAAP since the best players in the country played there,” he said. “Even former national players joined the competition hoping to be included in the national team again.” Jan Edward B. Ballesteros and Rodolfo Serafin Jerome T. Lozada
