UNIVERSITY of the Philippines is women's champion for the fourth straight year, while Ateneo secured a first-ever men’s title as the swimming competitions of the 75th UAAP season came to a close Sunday at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.
The Lady Maroons accumulated a total of 568 points to defeat Ateneo, which placed runner up with 326 points. La Salle finished third with 196 points.
Meanwhile, the Blue Eagles finally nailed the elusive men's crown behind rookie sensation Axel Ngui as the Katipunan-based school collected a total of 365 points, enough to survive the challenge of rival La Salle, which settled for second with 347 points.
At third was University of the Philippines with 286.
The Lady Maroons capped their dominance by setting a new league record in the 400-meter medley relay, courtesy of Whitney Dy, Tiara Tudio, Dennice Cordero, and Tin Hipol after clocking 4:39.97.
In the same event last season, the Diliman lady tankers erased the long-standing 42-year old mark previously owned 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 crown overall for the Lady Maroons. Delia Cordero winning the Rookie-MVP plum.
La Salle tanker Johansen Aguilar, a mainstay of Makati Skipjacks, capped a scintillating seven-gold romp by ruling the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 27.68 seconds to defeat Ateneo’s Luis Dapat (29.12) and University of Santo Tomas’ Charles Yatco. In the process, he also won his second straight men’s MVP honors.
“It was very challenging this year,” said the 20-year old Aguilar, also the league’s reigning Athlete of the Year.
Aguilar sealed the victory in last Saturday’s 400-meter individual medley event, where he submitted a new league record of 4:43.11 to beat Ngui.
A product of Xavier High School, Ngui settled for the silver with a 4:48.36 time.
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 back-to-back girls titlist University of the East shared the limelight in the juniors division.
Pricila Aquino of UP Integrated School and Gerard Reyes of Ateneo bagged the junior girls and boys MVP awards, respectively, while the Rookie of the Year awards went to UE’s Carmenrose Matabuena and Maurice Ilustre.
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