UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas remained as the gold standard in the UAAP as it swept the collegiate and high school general championships as Season 85 came to a close yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Growling Tigers ruled the college division for the sixth straight season and 46th overall, while the Tiger Cubs bagged their seventh consecutive high school championship and 22nd overall.

Banking on victories in women’s 3×3, women’s and men’s beach volleyball, men’s table tennis, women’s taekwondo, men’s judo, men’s tennis, women’s athletics and men’s chess, UST logged 336 points to beat perennial contender La Salle, which placed second with 279 points.

The Green Archers ruled the men’s 3×3, women’s volleyball, baseball, women’s table tennis and women’s swimming.

University of the Philippines, champions in men’s athletics, placed third with 260, while Ateneo, which topped men’s basketball, women’s badminton and men’s swimming, had 248 points in fourth.

A six-time champion in women’s basketball and a three-time winner in men’s volleyball to go along with championships in men’s badminton, men’s taekwondo, poomsae, women’s tennis and women’s chess, National University settled for fifth with 231 points.

Far Eastern University tallied 129 points in sixth capping the season with men’s and women’s football title sweep.

Extending its softball reign to 10 seasons, Adamson had 112 points in No. 7, while University of the East, which swept women’s and men’s fencing, had 92 points in eight spot.

The Tiger Cubs, triumphant in taekwondo, girls beach volleyball, girls table tennis, girls and boys swimming, girls and boys judo, girls athletics, had 217 points to remain on top of the high school competitions, which returned after it was not held in Seasons 83 and 84.

“We are very happy for winning general championships in the college and high school divisions,” said the school’s Board of Managing Directors representative Gigi Kamus.

La Salle-Zobel, which topped girls table tennis, placed second with 139 points, while FEU-Diliman, which picked up trophies in high school basketball, high school football, boys beach volleyball, boys volleyball, boys and girls chess, had 134 points in third place.

Ateneo (116), Adamson (103), UE (94), NU-Nazareth (77) and UP Integrated School (37) round up the finishers.

The UAAP allots 15 points for a championship, 12 points for second place, 10 points for third place, and continues decreasing down to one point for the eighth-place finisher.

La Salle swimmer Xiandi Chua from La Salle and UP softball standout Nickole Dela Cruz were named Athletes of the Year in the collegiate division.

Chua collected six golds, one silver and one bronze medal and set four new UAAP records to take the women’s MVP honors and powered the Lady Tankers back to the throne after 19 years. She also won gold in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games’ 200m backstroke event, setting a new meet record with a time of 2:13.20.

Dela Cruz led the Fighting Maroons to the softball finals and was named the tournament MVP. A part of the Blu Girls pool for the 2023 Asian Women’s Softball Championship, Dela Cruz also received awards for Best Slugger, Best Hitter, and Most Runs Batted In.

Adamson athletics’ Kent Jardin and FEU-Diliman basketball star Johnrey Pasaol were crowned the Athletes of the Year for the high school division.

The league’s 73 student-athletes who participated in the Cambodia SEA Games were honored during the closing ceremony.

The league also feted Trisha Tubu (Adamson volleyball), .Marjorie Manguiat (Ateneo swimming), Xiandi Chua (La Salle swimming), Gio Pabualan (FEU football), Jessica Mae Carcueva (NU tennis), Jewel Ann Rafael (UE judo), John Viron Ferrer (UP judo) and Djulia Patricia Biron (UST swimming) as the collegiate Athlete Scholar.

In high school, Johnray Louie Abayon (Adamson basketball), Ivo Nikolai Enot (Ateneo swimming),

Juliana Cassandra Yamson (La Salle-Zobel table tennis),.Mhage Gerriahlou Sebastian (FEU-Diliman chess), Alphecca Gonzales (NU-Nazareth chess), and Alexza Louisse Gatdula (UE judo) were also named as Athlete Scholar.

Adamson then formally turned over the hosting duties to UE.