Maroons, Tigresses snatch UAAP swimming tiaras

University of the Philippines captured its third straight men’s crown and University of Santo Tomas regained the women’s title in UAAP Season 68 swimming competition recently at the Rizal Memorial pool.

UP, behind Olympian Raphael Matthew Chua who ruled the 50, 100 and 200 meters breaststroke, chalked up 304.5 points in snaring the title, actually the second for the Diliman-based swimmers this season-the other being the girls’ (high school) plum.

UST wound up second with 225 points, followed by Ateneo with 154.50, De La Salle with 80 and University of the East with eight points in the men’s contest.

Ateneo’s Michaelmars Danila ran away with both the men’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards. He won gold medals in the 50 backstroke and freestyle, 200 individual medley and freestyle and 100 backstroke and freestyle.

Luica Dacanay, a swimmer with a vast overseas experience, expectedly snatched the Most Valuable Player tiara for UP, but the Lady Maroons fell short of the overall title because of a prized find from Puerto Princesa who powered UST atop the women’s podium.

Josephine Pilapil, 16, scooped six gold medals, one in record fashion, to propel the Tigresses to an overall title-winning 244 points. Dacanay and the mermaids from UP could only amass 200 points, followed by De La Salle with 166.50, Ateneo with 106.50 and UE with 14.

Pilapil, winner of five gold medals in the Iloilo Palarong Pambansa last summer, even bucked a left-knee injury in ruling the 50, 100 and 200 meters breaststroke and 50, 100 and 200 meters freestyle, where she shattered the old record of 2:16.89 Nicole Santiago set in 2004 with her swim of 2:16.14.

Those feats earned for Pilapil top rookie honors for the season.

In the boys’ division, Ateneo took the championship with 293 points, with La Salle-Zobel coming in second with 176.50. Rounding out the order of finish were UE third with 105, UP fourth with 102.50 and UST fifth 99 points.

In girls’ action, UP emerged victorious with 200 points, followed by UP (185), La Salle (170) and UST (162).

La Salle-Zobel’s Ryan James Siaron took the MVP honors in the boys’ division, while in the girls’ it was UST’s Edlyn Son, who also is this year’s top rookie. The rookie in the boys’ was Ateneo’s Theodoro Sandico.