AFTER A stellar opening day, the Ateneo Blue and Lady Tankers were being on keeping their podium finishes in the remaining days of the season.
Day 2: September 20, 2013
Day two started off with the Men’s 400m freestyle prelims, with Luis Arriola finishing seventeenth, Jose Mapa finishing eleventh, Gio Palencia finishing fourth and Axel Ngui finishing second. The women followed right after, with Team Ateneo finishing almost consistently with Kim Uy at seventh, Jasmine Ong at sixth, Angelica Enrile-Inton at fifth and Thea Caluma at second.
In the Men’s 50m breaststroke prelims, Max Austria finished at sixteenth, Mapa at eleventh, Hubert Taguibao at seventh and Micco Pesuena at sixth. Meanwhile, the Women’s saw Basille Uy finish tenth, Sandra Gojar at seventh and Ramona Datu came in third.
For the Men’s 100m Butterfly prelims, Robie Batungbacal finished tenth and Palencia finished second, both qualifying for the finals. Same was the case for the Women’s event, with Enrile-Inton at eighth, Caluma at sixth, Jackie Cruz at fourth and Celina Gonzalez finishing at second, all of them thus qualifying for the finals.
On to the Men’s 200m Backstroke prelims, Austria finished seventeenth, Arriola fifteenth, Jan Jeric Santos at fourth and Islau Dapat at second. Only Santos and Dapat qualified for the finals round. The Women’s event saw all Lady Tankers qualify for the finals, as Meg Reyes finished seventh, Andee Torres at sixth and Kim Uy at fifth.
At this point, controversy arose. Mikee Bartolome, who opted to swim for the University of the Philippines after graduating from University of Santo Tomas (UST) High School, was allowed to compete in this season’s competition after securing a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the recently established two-year residency rule from a Quezon City Trial Court earlier this month.
The rule, popularly known as the “Jerie Pingoy Rule,” requires graduates of a participating University of Athletic Association of the Philippines high school who opt to transfer to a different UAAP school for college to sit out two years before being allowed to compete in their respective sports.
The UAAP board tried to appeal to the tournament commissioner to not let Bartolome swim. The board argued that although a TRO was placed on the two-year residency rule, the one-year residency rule for transferee students was still in effect. However, Bartolome was still allowed to compete.
This was not taken lightly, particular by the camps of UST and De La Salle University (DLSU). UST’s women’s team pulled out of the competition, while the DLSU women’s team boycotted all the events that Bartolome was in, by forcing their disqualifications. According to reports, these were allegedly signs of protest against the UAAP.
Inspite of this, the competition resumed. Former Rookie of the Year Ngui set another UAAP record, this time in the Men’s 400m freestyle clocking in at 4:08.06. Palencia also earned a podium spot, finishing third. As for the Women’s event, Enrile-Inton finished seventh, Caluma finished fifth, Ong at fourth and Uy with a bronze medal at third.
Other UAAP records were also broken, as Gonzalez broke her own record in the Women’s 100m Butterfly with a time of 1:03.44. Uy, Enrile-Inton, Roanne Yu and Cruz also broke the Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay record.
Palencia garnered a bronze in the Men’s 100m Butterfly. In the Women’s, Enrile-Inton finished seventh, Caluma at sixth, Cruz at fifth and Gonzalez with her record-breaking first place finish.
Ending the second day was the 200m backstroke finals. Blue Tanker team captain Islau Dapat placed fourth while Santos garnered the bronze for the Men’s. In the Women’s event, Reyes finished seventh, Torres at sixth and Uy at fifth.
Day 3: September 21, 2013
The third day began with the 200m freestyle prelims. In the Men’s division, Blue Tankers Cocabo finished sixteenth, Benjo Ramos at thirteenth, Palencia at second and Ngui in the top spot. Both Palencia and Ngui qualified for the finals. For the Women’s, all Lady Tankers in the event qualified for the finals, with Ong finishing at seventh, Uy at sixth, Caluma at third and Gonzalez at second.
For the 100m breastroke prelims, Austria, Mapa and Micco Pesuena finished at sixteenth, fifteenth and ninth, respectively. Taguibao was the sole Blue Tanker to qualify to the finals, with a sixth place finish. Basille Uy finished eleventh, while fellow Lady Tankers Sandra Gojar and Ramona Datu qualified for the finals, finishing sixth and fifth, respectively.
Only Palencia qualified to the finals for the 50m butterfly event, finishing at seventh. Ramos, Taguibao and David Mendoza placed fifteenth, fourteenth and tenth respectively. For the Lady Tankers, Cruz, Caluma and Gonzalez qualified to the finals, finishing eighth, seventh and first, respectively. Jenn Tumambing, however, finished at thirteenth.
For the 100m backstroke prelims, Austria finished seventeenth, Batungbacal finished twelfth, and Santos finished fifth. Only Santos qualified for the finals. On the other hand, all the Lady Tankers in the event moved on to the finals. Reyes finished seventh, Torres in sixth and Uy in fifth.
In the last prelims round of the 400m Individual Medley, Arriola placed eleventh in the Men’s event, while Tumambing finished ninth, Datu finished eighth and Cruz finished sixth for the Women’s. Datu and Cruz both qualified for the finals.
At the end of the third day, Ngui brought home the gold in the 200m freestyle, clocking in at 1:56.13. Santos, on the other hand, bagged the bronze in the 100m backstroke event.
The Lady Tankers had a significant medal haul, as Gonzalez won the gold in the 50m butterfly and silver in the 200m freestyle. Uy won bronze in the 200m freestyle. The Women’s team also set a new UAAP record in the 4x50m freestyle relay, with a time of 1:54.09.
