UST set to claim another sweep of the overall titles in the UAAP

The University of Santo Tomas continues to dominate the University Athletic Association of the Philippines as it sets to claim the general championship in both the collegiate and the high school divisions for the 82nd season.

With two-thirds of the events in both categories already been settled, it was deemed fit for the league to crown the Growling Tigers and the Tiger Cubs for the fourth consecutive year. Overall, that gave them their 65th general title, cementing their claim as the best sporting school in the country in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic that caused their premature end to the season last April.

"You have to remember that in the High School  Division, sixteen of the eighteen championships were awarded. In the  Collegiate Division, twenty-one championship out of the thirty-one were  given just to give you a perspective,"  said league president Emmanuel Fernandez of Ateneo in Tuesday's Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum, wherein the league is on its planning phase for the 83rd season, in which they will transfer their hosting duties to De La Salle University.

UST took theplum with a 28-point lead over the Green Archers in the college division tally, highlighted with their sweep of beach volleyball and table tennis. La Salle only had a single title in Poomsae, but was runners-up in six events.

In  the High School events, the Tiger Cubs had a 37-point advantage over De La Salle-Zobel, punctuated by their conquests in swimming, taekwondo and baseball.

Hosts Ateneo were in third with wins in four events, highlighted by their dominance in swimming where they sweep both men's and women's events and the Blue Eagles capped it off with a 16-0 sweep in men's basketball.

Only tennis and athletics were the sports that were not played in the HS division, where in the collegiate ranks, the bulk of the second semester sports like volleyball and football were just getting started before being halted, as some sports like 3x3 basketball and baseball were not even played at all.

In respect to the events that were not played at all, the UAAP also announced that it will not award the best student-athletes individually.

"To award the Athlete of the Year, may mga athletes na hindi nakapag-compete or hindi  man lang nakatungtong fully. That is the wisdom why they decided to have an overall champion but not an Athlete of the Year," said executive director Atty. Rebo Saguisag.