Tag: No. 5

BARACK Obama’s impossible-turned-emphatic victory in the 2008 US Presidential Elections reminded this writer of a lot of “weird” stuff—cinematic and personal if you may ask—these past few days.

Indeed, Obama’s break with political anonymity can be described as meteoric, if not cosmic, in reference to two all-time blockbuster space flicks bearing the “Star” label (i.e. “Wars” and “Trek”). The Democratic “Alien(s)” and the Republican “Predator(s)” in that constellation of states called the US of A could not agree more.

From the get-go, the magnitude of Obama’s earth-shaking campaign which, as the man later revealed in his victory speech, was “not hatched in the halls of Washington—it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston,” has unarguably loosened the antipathic screws of the once Dubya-nesque electoral Richter scale more than the Big Apple showdown of King Kong and Godzilla could.

SANS ANY intention of bragging, we must say that UST leading the UAAP general championship race has become predictable. UST lords over the field at the end of the first semester and consolidates the race when the second semester sports kick off.

Season 71, though just half-finished, is no different. After the first semester sports, UST piled a commanding 167 points – with five championships consisting of the men’s titles in beach volleyball, taekwondo, table tennis, and swimming, and the women’s title in taekwondo. Thus, UST leads the pack.

But it was no walk in the park as Far Eastern University (FEU) got off to a jack-rabbit start, topping women’s basketball, beach volleyball and table tennis, and men’s chess. It even gained no lower than the top three spots in all the events it joined.

THIS HAS become a recording played and replayed: UST is again poised to win the UAAP general championship.

Halfway into Season 71, the school has garnered 167 points, all but assuring itself of a 36th overall title despite a brief scare from second-running Far Eastern University.

The Tamaraws collected 128 points while De La Salle University, which lost its basketball title to Ateneo de Manila University earlier in the season, gathered 119 points.

“We are very confident to win the overall championship,” Regent Fr. Ermito de Sagon, O.P. of the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA) told the Varsitarian. “The teams are doing well and we are on target. So far, we already bagged five team championships. We hope to add three or more in the second semester sports.”

THE UST Tigersharks finally broke a 19-year title curse by drowning Season 71 host University of the Philippines’ “five-peat” championship aspirations en route to UAAP swimming redemption last Sept. 25 to 28 at the Trace Aquatic Complex in Los Baños, Laguna.

The España-based tankers flooded the medal board with three golds, eight silvers and eight bronzes for a 223-point victory to comfortably overtake De La Salle University which chalked up a second-best 211 markers, way ahead of UP’ third-place tally of 176 points.

A HEARTBEAT away from barging into the main draw of their first off-season assignment, the UST Growling Tigers looked poised to overwrite a listless UAAP campaign from recent memory.

But the feisty Arellano University Chiefs found a way to remind UST of its Season 71 debacle, posting a 59-69 zonal-round shocker which officially booted the Tigers out of “Sweet 16” contention in the 2008 Philippine Collegiate Champions League last Nov. 6 at the Makati Coliseum.

“Reconstructing the current Tigers to substitute the old ones is still on-going. We are going to join more off season leagues while Dylan Ababou and Khasim Mirza train in the Philippine Basketball League,” assistant coach Beaujing Acot told the Varsitarian.

AGAINST high-caliber universities nationwide, the UST Tracksters carved a pair of runners-up finishes in the men’s and women’s athletics competition of the recent University Games (Unigames) last Oct. 25 and 26 at the Perdices Memorial Stadium in Dumaguete City.

THE UST Judo teams figured in a reversal of roles but remained far from the championship podium as the UAAP Season 71 Judo tournament unfurled last Oct. 4 and 5 at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Human Kinetics gym.

From last season’s bronze-medal finish, the Lady Judokas moved to second place with a 21-point tally, seven rungs ahead of third-placer De La Salle University, but miles behind the 75-point output of back-to-back champion UP.

THE COMEBACKING UST Lady Spikers walloped an out-of-sync Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws, 25-13, 25-17, 25-12 to notch their second straight victory in the fifth season of the Shakey’s V-League last Nov. 11 at The Arena in San Juan.

RECTOR Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa has bared a four-year, 13-point plan to transform the country’s top private university into an influential player in national and international affairs, putting UST back on track toward its quadricentennial, a little over a year after a leadership shakeup.

Delivering his first Rector’s Report since returning to his old post in September 2007, De la Rosa also unveiled a fresh vision and mission statement and told administrators and faculty members last November 7 that UST remains ahead in many respects, but must strive to be more relevant to society.

THE SAND remains an unconquered ground for the UST Spikers.

But all was not lost for the Espana-based crew’s Season 70 campaign as the Tiger Spikers managed to hack out a respectable third-place finish in the UAAP Beach Volleyball tournament, despite their female counterparts’ woeful performance.

Tiger Spikers Harby Ilano and Henry Pecaya digged their way to a modest 4-1 win-loss record with their only defeat coming from the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 22-20, 17-21, 10-15 last October 23 at the UE Caloocan sand courts.

“The men’s performance went well though we were aiming for something higher,” Tiger Spikers assistant coach Odjie Mamon told the Varsitarian.

After escaping by a whisker in the first set, UST squandered a 17-12 advantage, enabling the Warriors to surge ahead with a 5-0 barrage,17- 21, and arrange a winner-take-all third set.