UST ChES Bags 2 Golds, 1 Silver, and a Trophy as Overall Champion during PiChElympics 2016

news and photos by Biel Ross Dar and Merryl Jean Marquez
(updated 10:04 AM, 26 February)

                The UST Chemical Engineering Society (UST-ChES) successfully defended their crown against nine competing schools as they were declared overall champion for this year’s Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers Olympics (PIChElympics) held last February 21, 2016 at the University of the Philippines - Los Baños, Laguna. The UST ChES Basketball team, women’s and men’s division, and the Volleyball team brought home the bacon as they won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal.

PIChElympics, Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers Olympics, is a yearly tournament showcasing not the intellectual aspect of the aspiring Chemical Engineering students, rather, their athletic prowess. This event is a gathering of various students from different schools across Luzon, in order to compete with their fellow peers.

 

                Ten schools in Luzon, namely University of Santo Tomas (UST), De La Salle University-Manila (DLSU-Manila), Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST), Technological Institute of the Philippines-Manila (TIP-Manila), Mapua Institute of Technology-Manila (Mapua), University of the Philippines (UP) -  Chemical Engineering Society (UP KEM), UP-Alliance of Chemical Engineering Students (UP AlChEmES), Golden Gate Colleges, UPLB- Society of Chemical Engineering students, Batangas State University (BSU), and Adamson University (ADU), joined the annual Olympics of the Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers.

 

PIChElympics concluded the event with an awarding ceremony and a recognition for every school who actively participated in this year’s event. Medals, gold, silver, and bronze, were given to the top 3 schools in each game and trophies for the top 3 overall ranking schools in the said event. Our own Volleyball, Women’s basketball, and Men’s basketball got silver, gold and gold respectively and UST-ChES was declared as an overall champion of the said event. UST-ChES successfully defended their crown as the reigning overall champion of the PIChElympics 2015.

Volleyball

                UST ChES Vollleyball team, led by Daljit Singh (Acting Team Captain) won silver in the annual PIChElympics and was accompanied by Engr. Princess Parubrub, former ChE Volleyball varsity and coach of this year’s ChE Volleyball team. The team was composed of great athletes: Renzi Barotac, Joshua John Baylon, Kenneth Caraig, John Dale Dela Peña, Pat Duncan, Sharize Gasatan, Mark Joshua Ines, Jerina Pangilinan, Theo Sacdalan, Daljit Singh, Dan Erson Talplacido, and Trisdale Wong.

                UST defeated UP Kem, 2-0, TIP-Manila, 2-0, and UP-LB, 2-0, in their first 3 games heading them to enter the championship against BSU who gave them a good fight.

At the first set of the championship game, UST scored 25-12 and beat BSU. During the 2^nd set, a close fight between the two opposing teams was established. The game was very intense as the crowd loudly cheered for their bet schools when the scores of the two teams where very close. UST’s number 8 player, Joshua John “JJ” Baylon was injured during this set whom his team mates considered a big loss to the game. Second set end up with a score of 20-25 in favor of BSU and gave a standing of 1-1 with UST. Third set, the decision round, UST did not stop defending their crown as the reigning champion in Volleyball of last year’s PIChElympics. The game ended with a close final score of 19-25 in favor of BSU. BSU was declared as the champion of the PIChElympics volleyball and UST got the silver spot.

 Basketball

The UST-ChES Men's Basketball Team

                The UST-ChES Men’s Basketball team, led by two team captains John Philip David and Gio Castillo, and composed of players Biel Dar, Angelo Orallo, Denzel Soliaban, Toffee Paddayuman, Kaile Miralo, RJ Loring, Alec Cortez, Edil Pineda, Nick Abuena and Rieal Tapulao, won back to back championships. They were accompanied by their coach, Engr. Nico Angelo Sardea, a former UST ChES varsity.

                UST defeated Adamson in blowout fashion, 63-36, on Sunday, February 21 at the UPLB Copeland Gymnasium. Soliaban led all scorers with 17 points and graduating players namely David, Dar and Castillo also contributing 12, 11 and 9 points respectively. The game was neck and neck during the first quarter until UST picked up the pace, running and scoring, in each possession, while also intensifying their defense and hustling on both sides of the court, up until the game became one-sided. Coach Nico posted on Facebook “Congratulations to all of us. Our hard work, discipline on the court and determination are one of the factors kaya we are still the CHAMPIONS!”  UST won against TIP-Manila, 53-38, and against BSU, 53-44, before entering the finals. 

Also, members of the UST-ChES Women’s Basketball team, Zuyuska Bennett, Jillian Gutierrez, Bianca Moreño and Sophia Vergara, won against EARIST in a 3 vs 3 championship game with a final score of 42-22 in favor of UST.

Basketball Scores 

Game 1: Orallo 20, David 13, Dar 8, Pineda 6, Soliaban 6,

Semi-Finals: Orallo 13, David 10, Dar 8, Cortez 7, Castillo 4, Soliaban 4, Pineda 3, Abuena 2, Tapulao 2

Finals: Soliaban 17, David 12, Dar 11, Castillo 9, Cortez 7, Loring 2, Orallo 2, Tapulao 2, Miralo 1