UP, Ateneo tankers rip UAAP marks

MANILA, Philippines - Two long-standing records fell, University of the Philippines (UP) repeated as women’s champion and De La Salle regained the men’s crown in UAAP Season 74 swimming Sunday at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.

Aphrodite Magbanlac, Antoinette Aquino, Tiara Tudio and Tin Hipol shattered the women’s 4x100m medley relay record – one of the longest standing marks in the league that was set in 1969 by a squad from Far Eastern University – to highlight UP’s domination of the women’s section of the four-day swimming competitions.

The Maroons clocked four minutes, 42.55 seconds to break the 42-year-old record of 4:49.94.

“It’s unbelievable that we broke that record. No pain, no gain. We have worked hard in the last two years to break this,” said Aquino.

Ateneo completed a “seven-peat” in the boys section with 323 points, capped by Gabriel Castelo’s win in the 100-meter backstroke of 1:01.85 that broke the 20-year-old record of 1:01.96 established by former Olympian Ryan Papa.

The Lady Maroons garnered 312 points to bring home their 12th women’s trophy – and third straight – to Dilliman. 2008 champion Ateneo had 216 points to finish second and De La Salle 159 points to wind up third.

De La Salle, on the other hand, amassed 262 points to wrest the crown – its 11th overall – it won in 2009. UST finished second with 201 points and Ateneo ended up third with 135.

The Green Archers dedicated their victory to Janina Sedilla, a breaststroker, who died in a fire last March.

De La Salle’s Johannsen Aguilar, the Makati Skipjacks standout, bagged two gold medals on the final day of competition – in the 50-meter backstroke in 27.52 that broke the meet record of 27.54 he himself set lasr season, and in the 200-meter butterfly in 2:13.62.

Aguilar was named MVP and Xavier Ilustre ng UST was the season’s top rookie.

The other men’s gold-medal winners were Miggy Carandang of UST in the 50-meter freestyle (25.44), Ajirulla Jaitulla of University of the East in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:31.38) and Ateneo’s 4x400 meter medley relay (4:18.07).

Castelo emerged as boys’ MVP and Christine Joy Mendoza the MVP in the girls’ section, which UE topped with 300 points.