CEBU, Philippines - The University of Cebu athletes wield their athletic prowess with finesse on the way to defending their crown in the 26th Cebu City Olympics, which came to a close yesterday at the SM Seaside City.

The Webmasters harvested 69 gold, 39 silver and 37 bronze medals to reign supreme in the secondary battle followed by University of San Carlos with its 25-38-25 gold-silver-bronze medals, while Abellana National School (19-20-38) placed third.

UC got the bulk of its medals from athletics, karatedo, dancesport, arnis, table tennis, swimming and badminton.

UC karatekas nabbed seven gold medals mostly from their kata team composed of Renante Vidal and Jessa Avila, while its archery team grabbed a total of six golds, four of them from Khalil Alyx Abella.

The Webmasters ended up their campaign in athletics with a 12-8-9 gold-silver-bronze performance. Samantha Limos led UC’s charge in athletics after emerging the fastest in the girls 100m run with a time of 12.47.

UC’s badminton squad tallied 2-1-2 gold-silver bronze medals, while their taekwondo team handed 10 golds plus a silver. UC also got one gold from tennis and seven from arnis, while its basketball team settled for a silver medal after losing to the University of the Visayas, 48-77.

In the elementary level, athletes from Unit V were crowned champions with its 47 gold, 40 silver and 35 bronze medals. Unit VII stood at second place with its 28 gold, 18 silver and 17 bronze medals followed by Unit VIII with 24-22-36 medals.

The school -based sports conclave served as a selection process for Team Cebu City that will compete in the Batang Pinoy next month in Tagum City, Davao del Norte and the 2017 CVIRAA Meet in Naga south of Cebu on February. (FREEMAN)