Maroons take Day 2

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Sep 21st 2013

University of the Philippines (UP)’s Lady Maroons continue to rule the waters while their male counterparts outshone reigning titlist Ateneo de Manila University in Day 2 of the 76^th UAAP swimming competition at the PASA National Aquatics Center in Laguna.

Gunning for a fifth straight title, the Lady Maroons topped Friday’s swim-off by amassing three golds, five silvers and a bronze while the Maroons upstaged the Eagles with a two-gold, one-silver harvest.

Claire Adorna underscored UP’s second-day dominance with a pair of record-breaking feats in the 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter backstroke events. Adorna re-set her preliminary mark of 2:23.53 with a 2:24.98 clocking in the backstroke finals to bag her second individual gold. She later capped a 1-2-3 finish for the Lady Maroons in the freestyle race with only UP and Ateneo again competing due to the Anna Dominique Bartolome issue.

Adorna timed in at 4:33.69 to erase the 2011 mark of 4:35.87 set by Kimberly Uy. Fellow Lady Maroons Whitney Eunice Dy and Bartolome joined her on the podium at second (2:28.93) and third (2:32.20), respectively.

Denjylie Cordero also shone for the Lady Maroons, gaining top honors in the 50-meter breaststroke with 34:20. UP’s Joy Rodgers came in second (34,61), while Ramona Angelina Datu of Ateneo was third (35.59).

The Lady Eagles prevented a UP sweep by claiming the 4x400 meter relay and the 100-meter butterfly titles.

But UP was not to be denied in the men’s side as the Maroons took home the 50-meter breaststroke and 100-meter butterfly mints behind the superb showing of Christen Mercado (31.82) and Gabriel Castelo (57.45), respectively.

De La Salle University and Ateneo averted a gold-medal shutout thanks to veterans Axel Steven Ngui and Johansen Benedict Aguilar.

Ngui copped the 400-meter freestyle in record-breaking fashion, logging in 4:08.06 to wipe out his 2012 mark of 4:10.47. Aguilar meanwhile plucked the 200-meter backstroke gold with a 2:12.19 showing.

In the juniors division, Ateneo won four more titles to remain peerless on top with a total of eight golds so far.