Lyceum ushers in UCAL Season 8 with street dance crown

MANILA, Philippines — Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas crowned itself street dance champion to highlight the successful opening of the PG Flex-UCAL Season 8 before a huge cheering crowd on Thursday, October 9, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

The 25-member LPU Dance Machine — energized by the wild chants of “Viva! Larga! Pirata!” — put on a dazzling display of footwork, style and creativity to dethrone host Centro Escolar University in another tight and exciting contest among 9 participating schools.

LPU-B tallied 261 points to emerge winner by three points over CEU, which coincidentally was the winning margin of the Mendiola-based school when it ruled the inaugural event last season.

Philippine Christian University-Dasmarinas finished third followed by University of Batangas and Immaculada Concepcion College.

It was a big day for LPU-B after good-looking James Martin Paco was chosen as Mr. UCAL, while charming Zach Rhina Schell of PCU-Dasmarinas took the Miss UCAL title.

Obviously, the loudest cheers were reserved for CEU after the host school put great and concerted efforts in staging simple but significant opening ceremony, one that made this year’s affair very memorable and an inspiration to the next host.

Meantime, CEU President Danilo Concepcion exhorted student-athletes to play with pride, courage and integrity each game no matter how challenging the tasks are.

Tournament Director Horacio Lim and other league officials, including Col. Bong Nebrija, Bernard Yang, Carmelo Navarro and representatives of school owners, expressed excitement to the next event — the volleyball competitions will start on October 14 at UB gym in Batangas City with the Brahmans out to regain the men’s title, while Immaculada Concepcion College going for back-to-back in the distaff side.

The basketball event kicks off in the second part of the academic calendar in February with the Olivarez Sea Lions gunning for a back-to-back.

Other participating schools in the league are Diliman College, Manila Central University and Philippine Women’s University.

The tournament is backed by Akari, Smart Sports, Spalding, Hapee Toothpaste, Mighty Bond, Quintana Sports, Vital Purified Drinking Water, Topflite, Crane and Maruyama, CafeFrance and RC1 Lubricating Spray.