San Beda is NCAA Season 86 overall champs

San Beda College (SBC) bagged the NCAA general championship crown at the end of the 86th season of the country's oldest collegiate league. The Red Lions collected 337 points after posting wins in basketball, football, men's and women's taekwondo, swimming, and men's table tennis to capture their second overall championship since 1978. "This would not be possible if not for the hard work of our student athletes and coaching staff," said NCAA Management Committee member Jose Mari Lacson of San Beda. Last year's champion Letran came in second (328), while perennial overall title contender College of St. Benilde dropped to third (323). The Knights needed a strong runner-up finish in the athletics event to overtake the Blazers, whose disqualification of their women's volleyball squad probably cost them their bid for the overall crown. Letran topped the lawn tennis event and had second place finishes in women's volleyball as well as men's and women's beach volleyball. St. Benilde won in chess and women's table tennis, then placed second in swimming, football, lawn tennis, and men's and women's taekwondo. Host San Sebastian, last year's athletics champion, finished fourth overall with 224 points. University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (fifth, 206), Arellano University (sixth, 191), Emilio Aguinaldo College (seventh, 152), Mapua Institute of Technology (eight, 139), and Jose Rizal University (ninth, 127) rounded up the standings for the overall title. The Staglets, meanwhile, ran away with the junior's general title by garnering 270 points for a 45.70-point winning margin over the College of St. Benilde Junior Blazers (224.30). The Red Cubs of San Beda came in third with 202 points. Heavy Bombers clinch 1st athletics crown JRU ended a 74-year-long drought in the NCAA athletics tournament when it topped the medal-rich event last Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. The Kalentong-based school last won the athletics crown in 1936. "It's a proud accomplishment for Jose Rizal because this is our first track and field title in over half a century," said Paul Supan, who represents the school in the Mancom. – JVP, KY, GMA News