THE BLUE and Lady Tankers braved a different type of raging waters as they drew a close to Season 72 with a second-place finish in both the men’s and women’s division on September 24 to 27.
Despite ending the competitions at the same podium level, it still had been two different tales for both squads.
Last year’s champions, the Lady Tankers, were unable to hold their crown as they succumbed to the Lady Maroons, who won by only 24 points.
However, the undermanned Blue Tankers surprisingly climbed up from last year’s fourth place finish to its best UAAP performance to date alongside top-ranked De La Salle University.
“We achieved as a team because of the individual efforts,” Blue Tankers’ Captain Chico Gueco said. “Every one of us, kahit hindi gaanong (though it was not too much) expected, performed and delivered for the team.”
The right stroke
Held at the Trace Aquatic Complex in Los Baños, Laguna, the UAAP competitions took off with a strong start coming from the Tankers.
The team of Jan Paul Formalejo, Jonas Isaac Ramos, Jose Mario Ocampo and Michael Contreras commenced the Blue Tankers’ conquest of the men’s relay events with a win in the 4×50 meter freestyle relay.
Rookies Adel Barlisan and Karlo Lim, along with Aldo Tong and Gueco, landed at second place in the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Overall, the men’s team had consequently dominated all the five relay events with four gold medals.
Evan Uy and Jan Chui started their flight in the 100m freestyle where they claimed the top two spots. “This goes to show the overall improvement and balance of the team,” Head Coach Archie Lim said.
“Surprise finishes were everywhere and I think every swimmer swam, at least, one event where he finished higher than expected,” she added.
The Lady Tankers were not to be outdone. Eventual rookie of the year and national team member Denjylie Cordero topped the 200m individual medley, while eventual MVP Nicole Santiago and Rozelle Sarmiento clutched the first and second rank respectively in the 800m freestyle. Santiago and Sarmiento also repeated this feat in 100m freestyle.
Santiago broke a total of three UAAP records, two of which she previously held.
“[I could say that] the events for the first day were our strongest events,” Coach Lim said.
The tournament was not totally excluded from the heavy rains of Ondoy as the pool waters became colder and harder to swim in midway through the competition.
But the Blue Tankers endured the tough conditions with the likes of rookie and high school MVP Sean Paul Tan debuting his first college medals, and the other swimmers following their winning run in both men’s and women’s respective events.
Fight to the finish
Through the consistent contributory swims delivered by the team, the Blue Tankers were situated next to the Green Archers while their female counterparts were poised atop the rankings.
“Everyone just swam their fastest because we just didn’t swim for ourselves, but we swam for the team,” Ladies’ Captain Paui Pena said. But as the end of tournament came nearer, competition grew fiercer. The Lady Maroons were catching up fast. The Blue Tankers, on the other hand, were struggling to stay in second place.
Before the 50m freestyle, which was the last individual event, the men from UST were up by nine points. Yet with the touch outs of Uy and Chui, succeeded by the gold medal win in the 4×100 medley relay, the elusive podium finish was at last attained by the Blue Tankers, who overtook the Tigers by seven points.
“The boys displayed toughness under pressure,” Coach Lim said. “They even scored at least one point in every event which definitely helped us with the rankings.”
Unfortunately, Ateneo was unsuccessful in stopping the Lady Maroons as the former’s third place finish in the last event definitely held them back.
