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UNIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) swimming ace Luica
Gaudes Dacanay clinched a second consecutive Athlete of
the Year trophy to share honors with University of Santo
Tomas (UST), the overall seniors and juniors champion,
of UAAP Season 69 which formally closed with its annual
awards Sunday night.
Making
it a triple celebration for UST was taekwondo jin Nicole
Mapilisan, who kicked her way to the juniors Athlete of
the Year trophy in the awards Season 69 host University
of the East (UE) staged at its University Theater inside
its Recto, Manila campus.
Again,
UST emerged the biggest winner of the country’s most
prestigious collegiate league and Fr. Ermito de Sagon
and Felicitas Francisco, the Catholic school’s
representatives to the UAAP board, were beaming as they
received the two giant trophies.
“We
would like to share this award[s] to our athletes who
showed hard work and determination to give glory to the
school. We expect our athletes to do better in this
coming 70th season,” said de Sagon.
De Sagon
and Francisco also received from UE’s Luz Sta. Ana and
Rolando Perez, Season 69 president and
secretary-treasurer, respectively, the league flag for
UST which will host Season 70 beginning July 7 this
year.
UE
regaled the crowd through the UE Dance Troupe and
Chorale during the awards night where the league also
honored all the Most Valuable Players in the 13 sports
in its calendar. Also feted were the member-schools’
student athlete scholars as well as those who donned the
country’s colors in international competitions.
The
awards night turned solemn for a few moments when a
prayer was offered for the soul of Emilio “Jun”
Bernardino Jr., a product of the University of the
Philippines and former commissioner of the Philippine
Basketball Association, who passed away Saturday.
UE
president Ester Garcia, in her welcome remarks, said UE
was double blessed during its Season 69 hosting. “We
were doubly-blessed this year as we celebrated our
anniversary and successfully hosted Season 69. The UAAP
has continued to honor sports heroes that inculcate hard
work, integrity, discipline and team work. We hope we
would not forget these values as we put our best foot
forward,” said Garcia.
UST won
the overall crown in the seniors division with 331
points, followed by UP with 254, FEU with 218, Ateneo
with 209, UE with 177, Adamson with 95 points and NU
seventh with 48 points.
UST had
105 points in nipping UE (103) for the overall juniors.
Ateneo was third with 80 points, then UP with 77 points,
Adamson with 32 points, FEU with 28 points and NU with
12 points.
La Salle welcome
DE LA
SALLE UNIVERSITY, which is set to return in UAAP’s
Season 70 after serving a one-year suspension, can
expect to receive a courteous welcome by the league
board.
Although
the Taft-based school has not given any official message
of its comeback, incoming UAAP president Fr. Ermito de
Sagon said the league board is set to formally welcome
the Green Archers in a meeting next month.
“There
are hearsays that they will come back, but we haven’t
received any communication from [La Salle officials]
yet. I think it would be official when we hold our last
board meeting on April,” said de Sagon.
UE, as
host of Season 69, will have to call the last UAAP board
meeting as well as invite La Salle to attend.
“We are
expecting a tough competition this year since the
members are complete. As host, we will try our best to
meet their [members’] expectations and continue
promoting values, integrity, discipline, and team work,”
added de Sagon of Santo Tomas U.
The UST
head also admitted the ongoing probe of player-switching
in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
has caught their attention.
De Sagon
said the UAAP is set to make changes in the league’s
rules to avoid such cheating maneuvers when he presides
over the first Season 70 board meeting. |
