Despite bagging six titles, UST’s streak of UAAP general championships ended at 14 as De La Salle University claimed its first overall crown since joining the league in 1986.
The Green Archers finished with 293 points with five championships, namely in women’s chess, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and women’s volleyball. UST came in second with 278 markers on the strength of championships in men’s and women’s judo, women’s beach volleyball, men’s taekwondo, table tennis, and chess. Ateneo de Manila University settled for third place with 204 points.
Fr. Ermito De Sagon, O.P., director of the UST Institute of Physical Education and Athletics, said the loss should serve as a “wake-up call” for the school.
“Victory has many fathers, a loss is always an orphan,” he said.
UST lost the overall crown despite a multi-million investment in the state-of-the-art Quadricentennial Pavilion last year. But athletes were not able to use it often for training because the facility was also the venue for graduation ceremonies and other school events.
“The Pavilion was there, but we were not able to use it. The whole of summer [last year], we practiced outside and we did not have the facilities then,” De Sagon said.
In a previous report of the Varsitarian, UST athletes have experienced training problems since the demolition of the 78-year-old UST Gymnasium in 2011 to give way for the construction of the Thomasian Alumni Center. Training sessions were temporarily held outside the University until the Quadricentennial Pavilion was inaugurated last year.
But the training facility aside, De Sagon attributed UST’s loss to the growing strength of other UAAP varsity teams.
“We are not the only ones trying to prepare year after year. All the other schools are, and that has been their aim all this time,” he said. “In the last 14 years, it’s not as if they were sleeping and we were the only ones awake. All this time, they have been trying.”
Streak over for now
But this is not the first time UST snapped a streak after many years of lording it over the premiere inter-collegiate league.
In 1998, University of the Philippines disrupted the supposed 16th straight championship of UST to claim the Season 60 overall title after topping seven events, including a sweep in swimming and badminton.
“There are many things beyond our control. First, you cannot control the cycle of athletes. There comes a time that all your athletes are young, there’s nothing you can do about it,” De Sagon said.
The unfortunate event, however, ignited another dominant run—the 14-year winning streak as we know it today.
Unlikely slump
UST’s bid was disrupted by the subpar performances of other teams especially in the second semester. Earlier in the first semester, the España-based athletes trailed La Salle by eight points, 144-152, despite retaining crowns in five events.
As per UAAP’s current point system, 15 points are awarded to first place, 12 to second place, 10 to third place, and 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 to subsequent rankings.
The Male Woodpushers were the lone team to take home a title in the second semester, after overwhelming six-time defending champion Far Eastern University to reclaim the crown they last held in 1999.
Both the UST volleyball teams fell to fifth places coming from second and third places, respectively last season.
The Lady and Golden Booters also dropped to third and fifth spots, respectively, a far-cry from their first and second-place finishes last season.
The softball and baseball squads climbed to third place this year, but it was still not enough to help UST fortify its hold of the overall crown.
The Male Fencers and Male Tigersharks, meanwhile, plummeted to fourth place after a first and runner-up finishes in Season 74.
The worst record for UST came from the Tiger Spikers, who flunked to the last spot in men’s beach volleyball competition after two championships and a runner-up finish last season.
“Many players became ineligible to play because of academic deficiency. Year after year, we have been doing well. Except that this year, talagang medyo kinapos,” De Sagon said. Alexis U. Cerado and Carla Patricia S. Perez
