By REDintern Fiona Lee
Isabelle Wang of River Valley High on her way to finishing first in 17:32.30*. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Bedok Reservoir, Wednesday, March 27, 2013 — Isabelle Wang of River Valley High School won the C Division gold at the 54th National Schools Cross Country Championships, covering the 3.6-kilometre route in a time of 17 minutes and 32.30 seconds*.
Isabelle was followed closely by Joyceleen Yap of Cedar Girls’ Secondary, who finished in a time 17:39.44*.
Alicia Tung of Crescent Girls’ School came in third as she completed the race in 17:52.91*.
Isabelle’s win was all the more remarkable because she is only in Secondary One this year.
14-year-old Alicia looked a mixture of disappointment and joy as she commented on her race.
“I should have done better … I usually finish (3.6km) by 17:10 and my personal best is 16:40. I could have won today but I guess I just ran out of steam,” said Alicia.
Alicia led for the first half of the race by 200 metres, but Isabelle and Joyceleen overtook her as they approached the halfway mark, and the race continued on in similar fashion.
However, Alicia is still satisfied with her run as she had reached the goal that her coach, S. Pandian, had in mind for her.
“I am going to do better next year for sure. This sounds silly but I want to be able to qualify for the Youth Olympics in Nanjing (China) too,” added Alicia.
Meanwhile, the C Division team from Methodist Girls’ School unexpectedly won the team title when three of their runners finished in the top 20. It was MGS’ first C title since 2007.
Rayshall Yeoh of MGS was happy with her performance as she finished in eighth position.
“I started the race in the middle but managed to catch up slowly,” said Rayshall, who was quite close to Keh Chin Yip of North Vista Secondary but could not catch up in time. Chin Yip finished in seventh place.
Another MGS runner, Corrie Teo, said: “We’re all happy and excited by the news. It’s unexpected but we’re satisfied because we have been training for a very long time.”
“We’re also very thankful for Mr Ng (MGS coach) for being our motivator!” added Corrie.
*Based on interviews with the top runners and their coaches, the official timings are approximately 2:05 more than actual race times for the C Division girls. All timings reported in this article are based on the officially published timings available at schoolsports.sg.
C Division Girls (Top 20)*
1st Isabelle Wang (#6228, River Valley High) – 17:32.30
2nd Joyceleen Yap (#6057, Cedar Girls’ School) – 17:39.44
3rd Alicia Tung (#6070, Crescent Girls’ School) – 17:52.91
4th Cate Collon (#6249, SJI International) – 18:01.00
5th Levyn Wong (#6080, Dunman High) – 18:01.16
6th Leah Fahy (#6248, SJI International) – 18:04.47
7th Keh Chin Yip (#6176, North Vista) – 18:08.32
8th Rayshall Yeoh (#6142, Methodist Girls’ School) – 18:13.57
9th Celine Ng (#6009, Bukit Batok) – 18:17.37
10th Alexandra Louise (#6108, CHIJ Toa Payoh) – 18:22.06
11th Jemima Lim (#6145, Methodist Girls’ School) – 18:25.36
12th Corrie Jireh Teo (#6144, Methodist Girls’ School) – 18:27.36
13th Talisa Wilson (#6247, SJI International) – 18:29.24
14th Goh Shao Ping (#6293, Woodlands) – 18:29.42
15th Lim Su Ann (#6061, Cedar Girls’) – 18:30.28
16th Lynn Kwek (#6018, Bendemeer Secondary) – 18:32.95
17th Ng Shilin (#6261, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’) – 18:34.74
18th Felyn Toh (#6224, Raffles Girls’ School) – 18:38.00
19th Claire Tan (#6226, Raffles Girls’ School) – 18:38.47
20th Nurul Akhira (#6265, Singapore Sports School) – 18:38.67
Team Category (Top 4)
1st Methodist Girls’ School – 58 points
8th Rayshall Yeoh Manxuan (#6142) – 18:13.57
11th Jemima Lim Jie En (#6145) – 18:25.36
12th Corrie Teo Jireh (#6144) – 18:27.36
27th Laura Ann Bull (#6147) – 19:01.09
2nd Cedar Girls’ – 65 points
2nd Joyceleen Yap Yin Xiu (#6057) – 17:39.44
15th Lim Su Ann (#6061) – 18:30.28
23rd Haney Khairunnisa Bte Mohd (#6062) – 18:46.13
25th Khoo Xin Hui (#6056) – 18:54.04
3rd Raffles Girls’ School – 94 points
18th Felyn Toh Le Chun (#6224) – 18:38.00
19th Claire Tan Jing-wen (#6226) – 18:40.47
21st Amanda Lok Qi Ying (#6227) – 18:40.02
36th Khin Yadanar Oo (#6221) – 19:17.51
4th CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) – 106 points
10th Alexandra Louise Wee Rei-mi (#6108) – 18:22.06
26th Lettitia Jules Quek (#6107) – 18:57.68
29th Amirah Aljunied (#6112) – 19:03.81
40th Charlotte Leong (#6110) – 19:35.37
Complete Individual C Girls Results
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