UC Webmasters dominate, secondary champions still

CEBU, Philippines — The University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters successfully defended their secondary division crown in dominating fashion in the 30th Cebu City Olympics, which formally dropped off its curtains over the weekend at the Cebu City Sports Center.

The Webmasters finished the week-long tournament in very strong manner as a show of gratitude to their president Atty. Augusto “Gus” W. Go for his all-out support to them amidst the uncertainties brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While many schools here and even in Manila had cut athletic scholarships to their varsity teams, Go never wavered in backing them up.

That enabled UC’s athletes to keep on training for the past three years even when there were no competitions at hand and for coaches to continue earning as well.

And they did not let Go down.

With a dazzling haul of 96 gold, 42 silver, and 21 bronze medals, UC athletics director Jessica Jawad-Honoridez said this is the most overwhelming victory they had ever tasted in the history of Cebu City Olympics.

Their promising swimmers under the guidance of coach Rolando Alvarez harvested the most number of golds with 26 followed by the gymnastics team of coach Darlene de la Pisa and athletics with 17 apiece.

UC, which swept all gilts  at stake in table tennis, badminton, and chess, also carted away 11 golds in taekwondo 10 in arnis, two in lawn tennis, and one each in dancesport and volleyball.

Unit IX was a distant second with 36-39-47 gold-silver-bronze medal tally followed by Unit IV (20-19-22), University of San Carlos (18-34-19), and Unit VIII (16-15-17).

In the elementary category, Unit VIII, composed of over 20 public and private schools combined, emerged as the overall champion with 23 golds, 19 silvers, and 16 bronzes.

Unit V bagged the second spot with 18-17-17 medal count, while USC took the third place honors with 18-6-2 output.

The organizing DepEd-Cebu City division now shifts its focus to the return of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet in Carcar City later this month.