SAN Beda University bagged the first mint in the extraordinary NCAA 96th season that got going last Monday.
Red Lion taekwondo jin Alfritz Victoria Arevalo ruled the men’s poomsae standard competition as the online events of the league kicked off action.
A native of Baguio, Arevalo tallied 7.217 points to win the gold against seven others.
College of St. Benilde’s Ivan Murray Solimen took the silver medal after scoring 7.134, while Letran’s Roi Vinson Belano wound up with 7.083 points to round out the podium finishers.
Christian Dave Tayrus of Arellano University finished fourth with 6.617 points, while John Harold Estoy of San Sebastian College was at fifth with 6.417. Mikko Jeremi Bataoil of Jose Rizal University came in at sixth with 6.284, Jake Aldrin Ramos of Lyceum at seventh with 6.150, and Ralph Laurenz Gasco of Emilio Aguinaldo College at eight with 6.033.
The country’s oldest collegiate league pushed through with its new season with online events, with the basketball and volleyball tournaments getting mothballed.
Among the options the NCAA considered was holding its season in a bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna
The plan did not push through due to the whopping P40 million estimated cost and the absence of the greenlight from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The remainder of the 95th season was scrapped in March last year at the start of the government-imposed lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly pulmonary disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Indoor volleyball, football, lawn tennis, soft tennis, track and field, beach volleyball, and cheerleading were called off for good last season.
The Commission on Higher Education released the safety and health guidelines for the resumption of varsity training last October.
Eight months later, the collegiate leagues are still waiting for the go-signal from the IATF.
