Hwa Chong Institution run away with 3 out of 6 track and field championship titles

Story and pictures by Leslie Tan

Fatin Nazirah Binte Mohd Ali (middle) of CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) won the C Division Girls 100m race in 13.51s while Noelle Lee (left) of Tanglin Secondary finished second in 13.55s. Ang Jia Yun (right) of Nanyang Girls’ was fifth in 13.82s. Amanda Tan (not in picture) of Cedar Girls’ was third in 13.65s. (Photo 1 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – Hwa Chong Institution continued their traditional domination in track and field when they won three out of six championship titles: A Division Girls, B and C Division Boys.

Only the girls of Raffles Junior College came closest to threatening them when they finished with 157 points compared to the HCI total of 183. The largest gulf was established by the HCI C Division boys when they finished with 174 points, while second-placed Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) only managed 108 points. Even though the ACS(I) C Division boys had only one less first-place finish with five compared to HCI with six, the strength and breadth of the HCI squad told as they had enough finishers throughout the field to pick up championship points.

In all, 18 new meet records were set at the 49th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships, with last Friday dubbed “Fantastic Friday” when 11 records fell in a single day of competition. The Singapore Sports School led the way with eight new meet records while HCI accounted for six.

Results

A Division Boys
1st – Raffles Junior College (175 points)
2nd Victoria Junior College (165)
3rd – Hwa Chong Institution (152)
4th – Anglo-Chinese Junior College (52)

B Division Boys
1st – Hwa Chong Institution (130 points)
2nd – Raffles Institution (106)
3rd – Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) (73)
4th – Catholic High School (55)

C Division Boys
1st – Hwa Chong Institution (174)
2nd – Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) (108)
3rd – Catholic High School (83)
4th – Singapore Sports School (75)

A Division Girls
1st – Hwa Chong Institution (183 points)
2nd – Raffles Junior College (157)
3rd – Victoria Junior College (125)
4th – National Junior College (46)

B Division Girls
1st – Singapore Sports School (131 points)
2nd – CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School (98)
3rd – Nanyang Girls’ High School (97)
4th – Cedar Girls’ Sec School (85)

C Division Girls
1st – Cedar Girls’ Sec School (118 points)
2nd – CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School (106)
3rd – Nanyang Girls’ High School (85)
4th – Singapore Sports School (84)

Fatin Nazirah Binte Mohd Ali at the end of her 100m race. (Photo 2 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Lee Hong Yi (middle) of HCI finished the C Division Boys 100m first in 11.89s, while Tan Zong Yang (#305, right) of SJI comes was second in 11.95s. Zhou Shicheng (left) of HCI was third in 11.97s. (Photo 3 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Lau Mei Xian (centre) of Singapore Sports School won the B Division Girls 100m in 13.18s. Noreen Herman (left) of Sports School was second in 13.28s. Chang Ping (right) of St Nicholas Girls’ was fourth in 13.51s. Ng Wan Leng (not in picture) of Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School was third in 13.34s. (Photo 4 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Aaron Foo (left) of Seng Kang Secondary won the B Division Boys 100m in 11.54s. Harris Sim (middle) of ACS(I) was second in 11.73s while Khairyll Amri (not in picture) of Temasek Secondary was third in11.83s. Pang Yao Yi (right) of SJI was fourth in 11.94s. (Photo 5 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Joanna Chng (right) of RJC won the A Division Girls 100m race in 12.86s while Chong Jia Yuan (centre) of HCI was second in 13.01s. Amanda Tan (left) of HCI was third in 13.33s. (Photo 6 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Raja Kamarul Irsyad (#143) of RJC won the A Division Boys 100m race in 11.20s while Tee Yu Jin (right) of ACS(I) was second in 11.32s. (Photo 7 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Finishing third in the A Division 100m race was Leong Yuan Chang (right) of HCI in 11.41s while Loo Yi Hao (left) of VJC was fourth in 11.57s. (Photo 8 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Ranjitha of Anderson Secondary led Nur Hamizah (left, partially hidden) of the Singapore Sports School at the start of the second lap in the C Division Girls 800m race. (Photo 9 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

It was a photo finish as Ranjitha (left) crossed the finish line first in 2m 29.55s while Nur Hamizah was second in 2m 29.62s. Natalie Wee (right) of RGS was third in 2m 30.16s. (Photo 10 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Wan Zahrah Bte Ahmad Alif Lim of Cedar Girls’ led the B Division Girls 800m race just after the halfway mark with Melody Leow of the Singapore Sports School following closely. (Photo 11 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Melody Leow of Sports School eventually overtook Zahrah and came back in first place with a time of 2m 29.99s. Berenice Lian of RGS was second in 2m 32.01s while Allison Tan of Nanyang Girls’ was third in 2m 33.66s. (Photo 12 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Dharshini Chandara Sagar (#146) of ACJC led at the halfway mark in the A Division Girls 800m race while Joanna Ho of RJC followed closely in second. (Photo 12 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

A last huge effort saw Joanna Ho (#79) beat out Dharshini (#146) into second place. Michelle Cheung (#182) of HCI finished third just ahead of Audrey Teng (#69) of RJC. Joanne finished in 2m 31.67s while Dharshini clocked 2m 32.29s. (Photo 12 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Zachary Ryan Devaraj, one of Singapore’s more promising middle distance runners in recent years, led the C Division Boys 1500m race from the start. Gavin Loh (#189) of Catholic High, running third, would eventually also finish third. (Photo 13 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Zachary was followed closely by T. Haarishankar of Singapore Sports School for most of the race. (Photo 14 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Zachary broke from Haarishankar in the last lap and won in 4m 23.43s. Haarishankar managed a 4m 32.21s second-place finish while Gavin Loh of Catholic High was third in 4m 36.13s. (Photo 15 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Lim Zhi Ming (#245, second from right) of RI edged out Sumanthiran Selvarajoo (#296) of SJI in the B Division Boys 1500m race. Zhi Ming finished in 4m 28.92s while Sumanthiran clocked 4m 29.01s. Yong Shi Kai (#263) of RI was third in 4m 29.63s. (Photo 16 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

The Raffles JC relay team neck and neck with the Victoria JC team at the handover point to the anchor runner. RJC finished first, clocking 43.24s, Hwa Chong finished second, clocking 43.40s whereas VJC came in fourth, clocking 43.97s. (Photo 17 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

The B Division boys relay entering the final stretch. St Joseph’s Institution finished first, clocking 44.79s. Raffles Institution was second in 44.82s and Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary was third with 45.07s. (Photo 18 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

The Anglo Chinese School (Independent) anchor runner a face of determination as he starts off on the final stretch. ACS(I) finished first with a time of 45.47s. Victoria School was second with a time of 46.16s. St Joseph’s Institution came in third with a time of 46.59s. (Photo 19 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

The Hwa Chong Institution girls relay team’s anchor runner starts off on the final stretch. HCI finished first with a timing of 49.92s. Raffles JC came in second with a time of 50.71s whereas Victoria JC came in third with a time of 52.48s. (Photo 20 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

The CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ runner sprinting off before her Sports School competitor. However, she was overtaken and finished second with a time of 50.78s. The Sports School runner was a split second faster, taking the gold with a time of 50.77s. Nanyang Girls’ High took third with a time of 51.57s. (Photo 21 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Jonathan D’cruz (#213) of Victoria JC finishes first in the A Boys 1500m dash. He finished with a time of 4 min 22.14 sec. Soh Hua Qun (#145) of RJC came in second with a time of 4m 22.51s.(Photo 22 © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)