UNIVERSITY of the Philippines super rookie Quendy Fernandez featured for the Lady Maroons in three of the five individual events, bringing home one gold and two silver medals on the third day of the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Swimming Championships on Saturday evening at the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Pool in Malate, Manila.
Fernandez was simply a cut above the rest in the Women’s 100m backstroke where she registered a fast time of 1:04.88 to overpower fellow Rookie-of-the-Year contender Mishka Sy (1:06.72) of Ateneo de Manila University and teammate Regina Castrillo (1:06.80) for the gold.
In the Women’s 50m Butterfly, Fernandez then played second fiddle to Castrillo as the senior Lady Maroon took the gold in 28.51 seconds while the rookie finished in 28.97 seconds. University of Santo Tomas took the bronze medal courtesy of Alyza Ng who clocked 29.42 seconds.
The final medal for the day of Fernandez came in the Women’s 200m Freestyle where De La Salle University’s own rookie, Hannah Sanchez, came out on top with a time of 2:12.42 to take the gold. Fernandez was a distant second in 2:14.19, while her teammate, Camille Buico, took the bronze in 2:14.39.
After the penultimate day of action in the championships, UP was able to slightly stretch its lead on the back of a total of eight golds, five silvers, and six bronze medals for 316 points.
Ateneo was still second with 271 points as defending champions DLSU (148) figured in a close battle for third with UST (133).