UST receives the award for the UAAP Season 85 general championship. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — University of Santo Tomas remained on top of the UAAP in the return of the full athletic calendar, winning its 46th general championship in the collegiate division and 22nd crown in high school in the Season 85 closing ceremony on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
UST won nine titles this season in men’s and women’s beach volleyball, women’s taekwondo, men’s judo, men’s tennis, men’s table tennis, men’s chess, women’s athletics, and women’s 3×3 to take home its sixth consecutive general championship.
The Growling Tigers garnered a total of 336 points, beating La Salle, which had 279 points, and University of the Philippines, which garnered 260.
“For UST, we are very happy again for having this general championship for the college and high school divisions. We also live with the tradition of producing excellent and world-class student-athletes,” said Gigi Kamus, who is UST’s member of the UAAP board of managing directors.
“Probably, all of these straight championships, it’s more of we don’t want to pressure the student-athletes but it’s more of an inspiration for them to really give their best. It’s really a motivation also for the coaches to really produce good student-athletes. Probably for us, it’s always a blessing for the University. It’s really a blessing that all of our student-athletes are giving their hearts in all of the things that they do not only in their sports but also in their academics,” she added.
In the return of high school division after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UST won eight golds from girls’ beach volleyball, boys and girls swimming, girls table tennis, boys taekwondo, boys and girls judo, and girls athletics.
UST High School earned 217 points for its seventh straight general championship, beating La Salle (137) and Far Eastern University (126).
“Because they’ve been very active in their online training. Even though, a lot of players have graduated and gone to college but with the proper guidance of the coaches and most especially the parents, who really entrusted their kids,” Kamus said in Filipino. “We’re really grateful to them because they pushed our athletes. And for almost three years, we didn’t have high school division. They were eager to be on the podium all the time in all tournaments.”
The UAAP allots 15 points for the championship in an event, 12 to the second placer, 10 to the third placer, eighth to the fourth placer, six to the fifth placer, four to the sixth placer, two to the seventh placer and one point to the eighth placer.
UST won the General Championship last year, amid the shortened Season 84, where it won four titles out of the seven sports.