The Varsitarian

THE EUPHORIC splash to UAAP immortality should have long drowned the UST Female Tigersharks into complacency.

But that scenario remained wishful thinking for their PRISAA rivals as the “four-peat” UAAP champions again swam their way to glory, delivering A1 performances in the meet’s swimming competition last April 9 to 13 at the Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex in Zamboanga City.

Patrolling the waters for the National Capital Region (NCR) alongside tankers from San Beda College, the Season 70 champions netted 36 golds in the individual and team events while shattering PRISAA records along the way.

Season 70 Rookie of the Year Marvie Borja emerged as the most bemedaled Thomasian in the games, bagging four golds, including a record-breaking 5:07.67 time in the 400-meter freestyle.

Borja, who earlier topped the 200-meter butterfly (2:39.59) and 400-meter individual medley (5:07.67), later conspired with fellow Female Tigersharks Lianne Marquez, Josephine Pilapil, and Apryl Herrera to wrest the 4x50-meter relay gold in 2:12.37. Marquez and Pilapil, for their part, racked up two golds each for the Big City contingent.

Buoyed by a golden 32.63-second touch in the 50-meter backstroke, the sophomore Marquez then proceeded to rewrite the previous 100-meter breaststroke standard via a blistering 1:11.51 clocking. The veteran Pilapil on the other hand, conquered the 50-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events, respectively. Paul Nicholas P. Dimerin