Berenice Lian of RGS holds off Clara Poon of Cedar Girls’ for B Division 800m win

Story by REDintern Colin Tung. Pictures by Leslie Tan/Red Sports.

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Thursday, April 23, 2009 – Berenice Lian of Raffles Girls’ School overcame the disappointment of finishing 9th in the 1500m final to win the 800m race in a close finish with Clara Poon of Cedar Girls’ Secondary.

Berenice triumphed in a time of 2 minutes 29.54 seconds, 0.04s faster than Clara. In third was Natalie Wee, also from Raffles Girls’ School, in a time of 2:30.05 as the top-three all finished within a second of each other.

The first lap was passed in 75s with Natalie heading the close-knitted pack of runners.

With 200m to go, six will still in contention for medals. Clara broke from the pack with 150m to go and made a push to drop the rest. In the process, Berenice and Natalie were pulled along with her.

In the end, it was not enough as Berenice dipped just that bit more slightly to take the win with Clara splitting the two Raffles girls.

Clara reflected on her run saying: “I opened up too late.”

When asked what was her motivation entering the race on the back of her 1500m performance, Berenice shared: “Running is my love so I just wanted to give it my best shot in my last year in the B Division.”

Though the B Division girls’ race may have provided the closest competition of the three 800m races on the final day, it was the race that also provided the slowest winner.

C Division girls’ winner Cheryl Chan of Cedar Girls’ Secondary and A Division girls’ winner J. Lossini of Serangoon Gardens Secondary both went faster in topping their categories with times of 2:28.63 and 2:25.81 respectively.

The fourteen-year-old Cheryl said after crossing the finish to rapturous roars from the enthusiastic Cedar supporters in the stands: “I have trained for so long so I couldn’t let everything go to waste and I wanted to win for all my friends who were cheering.”

She had broken her personal best of 2:30 in winning the C Division girls’ 800m. Cedar Girls’ Secondary’s two golds have been won by her.

J. Lossini had the distinction of being the fastest 800m girl across all divisions when she won her A Division race comfortably over Look Xinqi of Raffles Institution who clocked 2:32.98.

Lossini is the only representative from her school and having been runner-up in the 1500m, she only wanted to go one better in the 800m. She said: “After the 1500m loss, I felt I had to make up for it in the 800m and having done that feels really good.”

Results (Top-Eight Only)

C Division Girls
1. Cheryl Chan Xue Rou Cedar Girls Secondary 2:28.63
2. Liaw Yun Mun Nicole Ann CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) 2:30.21
3. Roshini Piragasam Crescent Girls’ Secondary 2:32.75
4. Sim Yi Shien Crescent Girls’ Secondary 2:36.56
5. Oh Shi Ning Charlene CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) 2:36.79
6. Teo Shin Yun Nanyang Girls’ High 2:38.13
7. Tee Jia Xin Dunman High School 2:39.35
8. Nicole Lum Singapore Sports School 2:39.65

B Division Girls
1. Berenice Lian Xueli Raffles Girls’ School 2:29.54
2. Clara Poon Jia Xin Cedar Girls’ Secondary 2:29.58
3. Natalie Wee Yi Shuen Raffles Girls’ School 2:30.05
4. Allison Tan Chek Swee Nanyang Girls’ High 2:31.61
5. Nur Hamizah Singapore Sports School 2:33.28
6. Gan Yun Ting Tanglin Secondary 2:36.30
7. Wendy Enn Singapore Sports School 2:37.15
8. Jedidah John Cedar Girls’ Secondary 2:39.62

A Division Girls
1. J. Lossini Serangoon Gardens Secondary 2:25.81
2. Look Xinqi Raffles Institution 2:32.98
3. Joanna Ho Sun Wai Raffles Institution 2:34.36
4. Melvis Lim Zhi Min Hwa Chong Institution 2:34.72
5. Darshini D/O Chandara Sagar Anglo-Chinese Junior College 2:36.73
6. Lee Le Xin Francoise Hwa Chong Institution 2:37.60
7. Janice Chow Wen Xian Catholic Junior College 2:39.17
8. Cheng En Yi Sheila Hwa Chong Institution 2:39.35

For full results, please refer to www.schoolsports.sg.

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For more pictures, go to the gallery.