Lady Maroons, Eagles sweep UAAP swim honors

MANILA, Philippines - University of the Philippines extended its reign in UAAP swimming by ruling the women’s side for the fourth straight year while Ateneo secured its first-ever men’s championship at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna yesterday.

The Lady Maroons collected 568 points to defeat the Lady Eagles, who pooled 326 points, while the La Salle Lady Archers assembled 196 points for third.

The Blue Eagles, powered by rookie sensation Axel Ngui, finally ended years of frustration as they took the men’s crown with 365 points, beating the Archers, who had 347 points. The Maroons finished third with 286.

The Lady Maroons capped their domination by setting a new record in the 400m medley relay courtesy of Whitney Dy, Tiara Tudio, Dennice Cordero and Tin Hipol with a time of 4:39.97.

In the same event last season, the Diliman lady tankers erased the long-standing 42-year old mark by Far Eastern University.

“The hard work of the girls paid off. They always strive to work harder,” said UP coach Noel Rivera.

It was the 13th women’s crown for the Lady Maroons, with Delia Cordero winning the Rookie-MVP plum.

La Salle’s Johansen Aguilar, a mainstay of Makati Skipjacks, capped a scintillating seven-gold romp by ruling the 50m backstroke with a time of 27.68 seconds to defeat Ateneo’s Luis Dapat (29.12) and University of Santo Tomas’ Charles Yatco to win his second straight men’s MVP honors.

“It was very challenging this year,” said the 20-year-old Aguilar, who is also the league’s reigning Athlete of the Year.

What sealed Aguilar’s victory was last Saturday’s 400m individual medley event where he beat Ngui with a time of 4:43.11, which is a new league record. Ngui, a product of Xavier High School, settled for silver with 4:48.36.

The 18-year-old Ngui, who won the Rookie of the Year honors, collected six golds and a silver medal.

Meanwhile, newly-crowned eight-time boys champion Ateneo and newly-minted back-to-back girls titlist University of the East shared

the limelight in the juniors division.

Pricila Aquino of UP Integrated School (girls) and Gerard Reyes of Ateneo (boys) bagged the juniors MVP honors, while the Rookie of the

Year awards went to UE’s Carmenrose Matabuena (girls) and Maurice Ilustre (boys).