UNIVERSITY OF the East scored a double in Season 68 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) by running away with the juniors general championship and the Athlete of the Year honors through Nelson Mariano III in chess.
UE, behind Mariano’s impeccable performance, anchored its overall championship with title victories in chess, table tennis, girls’ swimming and a sweep of boys’ and girls’ volleyball.
With 101 points, UE ran away with the overall title to improve on the second-place finish it booked last season. It also prevented another season sweep by University of Santo Tomas (UST), which was relegated to second overall in juniors this season.
UST garnered 79 points with only a title conquest in taekwondo to show, a far cry from the five crowns it won last year. UST was second to UE in the two volleyball divisions and in table tennis.
The UAAP awards the same number of points in the juniors’ category as it does in the seniors —15 points for the champion in an event, 12 for second place, 10 for third, eight for fourth, six for fifth, four for sixth, two for seventh and one for eighth.
La Salle-Zobel clinched the boys’ basketball crown, while Ateneo was tops in boys’ swimming.
The AOY trophy is the second consecutive for Mariano, a 15-year-old high school junior who is the latest to showcase his exploits from the Mariano clan of chess players. Mariano was also the undisputed Most Valuable Player (MVP) in chess.
Three other UE junior athletes were MVPs in their respective events — Jayson Mesias in table tennis, Michael Reyes in boys’ volleyball and Giza Yumang in girls’ volleyball.
UST produced three MVPs — Jerhiel Rolando Alberto in athletics, Juan Paolo Pilares in boys’ taekwondo and Edlyn Son in girls’ judo.
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