Thirdy Ravena hailed top Ateneo male athlete
After powering the Blue Eagles to a three-peat, Thirdy Ravena becomes the first basketball player to win Ateneo’s Sportsman of the Year award in 10 years
by Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – Ateneo basketball star Thirdy Ravena isn’t done reaping honors.
Ravena, who powered the Blue Eagles to a UAAP three-peat, captured Ateneo’s Sportsman of the Year award, while swimming sensation Chloe Daos bagged the women’s honor.
The two emerged as Ateneo's most dominant student-athletes during the short-lived UAAP Season 82 tournament and honored by the school with the Guidon-Moro Lorenzo award.
Ravena is the first basketball player to win the honor since Nonoy Baclao, who copped the award back in 2010 together with judoka JR Reyes.
Daos, meanwhile, bagged her second Sportswoman of the Year citation after winning it back in 2018 during her rookie year, while also earning the Ambrosio Padilla Athlete of the Year for exemplifying the ideals of the late senator, which is mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body).
The two stalwarts truly had an epic Season 82 campaign.
To start the year, the 23-year-old Ravena was part of the Gilas Pilipinas team during the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Ravena would then steer the Blue Eagles to an immaculate 16-0 sweep of the UAAP men's basketball tournament.
To cap his collegiate career, he also became the first three-time Finals Most Valuable Player in the sport’s 82-year history in the league.
In swimming, Daos continued her dominant run in the UAAP pool, winning all 7 of her events during the four-day meet last October to increase her collegiate tally to 21 golds.
In her last swim for the season, the 20-year-old broke the five-year record of former Moro Lorenzo awardee Hannah Dato, clocking a UAAP record time of 2:19.03 minutes in the 200m butterfly event to erase Dato's 2:19.71 mark from the books.
Other nominees for the Sportsman of the Year were reigning two-time UAAP backstroke king Aki Cariño and men's fencing foil individual event gold medalist Jaime Viceo.
The other finalists for the Sportswoman award were women's badminton co-finals MVPs Geva De Vera and Chanelle Lunod. Daos also bested Romina Gavino and reigning two-time judo middleweight champ Bernie Margulies.
The crowing of the Guidon-Moro Lorenzo and Ambrosio Padilla Athletes of the Year is a yearly event that’s part of the Loyola Schools Awards for Leadership and Service. – Rappler.com