Swim sensation Joseph Schooling of ACS(I) lights up inter-school championships

By Ian Chew and Marvin Lowe. Photos by Marvin Lowe.

Singapore Sports School, Tuesday, April 28, 2009 – Who says that there are no talents in Singapore’s swimming scene?

That, according to Singapore’s swimming ace and guest-of-honour Ang Peng Siong, was proven false when Joseph Isaac Schooling of Anglo Chinese School (Independent) smashed the national U14 butterfly record in style at the National Inter-School Swimming Championships.

How fast was Joseph Schooling? His winning time of 57.55s in the 100m butterfly final even bested the winning times in the A and B Division 100m boys Butterfly final events.

Jonathan Poh of Singapore Sports School won the 100m B Division Butterfly race in 58.28s while Ng Tze Kang of RI won the A Division race in 58.04s.

Joseph had started the race neck-and-neck with his competitors, but turned magnificently at the 50m mark to power home at least two body lengths ahead of his nearest rivals. His teammate Jerryl Yong broke the old meet record as well, finished second in a scintillating time of 59.88s.

The swimming nationals also renewed old rivalries between Anglo Chinese School (Independent) and Raffles Institution, as they dominated the C Division between them. Raffles Institution had enjoyed a bright start earlier when swimmer Syed Illyas and Koh Quan Ren made it a 1-2 finish for their school in the C Division 50m Backstroke final.

Their rivalry was further intensified in the 50m Butterfly race between Joseph Schooling of ACS(I) and Lee Zheng Kai of Raffles. Zheng Kai had broken the previous 50m Butterfly C Division record during his heat by recording a time 27.34s. However, his record was in turn broken by Joseph in the final eventually. It was a close race, but Joseph edged out Zheng Kai narrowly and clocked a time of 27.03s, shaving 0.3 seconds off the record.

The ACS(I) relay team then smashed the record for the 4x50m medley relay in the afternoon session, cutting down a record they set during the heats by 2 seconds to 1:52.49 seconds. Although the Raffles team also bested the record, they had to settle for second again.

Joseph, a potential Asian Youth Games (AYG) representative for Singapore, was elated at his timings.

“I broke my PBs in both my events today!” gushed Joseph.

This unfortunately might be his last inter-school championship as he plans to further his studies and swimming development in the United States next year.

Divisional Rankings

A Division boys
Raffles Institution 170 points
Anglo Chinese Junior College 88 points
Anglo Chinese School (Independent) 71 points
Temasek Junior College 14 points

B Division boys
Singapore Sports School 104 points
Anglo Chinese School (Independent) 103 points
Raffles Institution 93 points
Anglo Chinese School (Barker) 34 points

C Division boys
Anglo Chinese School (Independent) 142 points
Raffles Institution 107 points
Singapore Sports School 13 points
Catholic High School 12 points

A Division girls
Raffles Institution 192 points
Anglo Chinese Junior College 103 points
Temasek Junior College 25 points
Anglo Chinese School (Independent) 23 points

B Division girls
Raffles Girls’ School 152 points
Methodist Girls’ School 91 points
Singapore Sports School 62 points
CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School 51 points

C Division girls
Raffles Girls’ School 151 points
Methodist Girls’ School 87 points
Singapore Sports School 30 points
CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School 19 points

C Division boys 100m Butterfly Final:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKZuNCtL-JU

B Division boys 100m Butterfly Final:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylDB131pDPA

A Division boys 100m Butterfly Final:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKA4F6z7N4c

C Division boys 50m Backstroke Final:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbsSw-CBgc

C Division boys 200m Breaststroke Final:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsYZbrcy9I8