Story by REDintern Denise Chia. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports
Bishan Stadium, Monday, April 25, 2016 — Wu Shu Han of Nanyang Girls’ High bagged her second gold at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships when she won the C Division Girls’ 1500m in a time of 5 minutes 27.83 seconds.
The electronically-timed record still stands at 4:57.24, set by Hua Yi Secondary School alumna Yvonne Lin in 2005.
Elizabeth Liau and Caitlyn Yeo, both from CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School, came in second (05:36.41) and third (05:42.56) respectively.
Elizabeth took the lead at the start, establishing a 10-metre gap between herself and the main pack in the first 300m of the race. Lee Yun En of North Vista and Toh Pei Xuan of CHIJ pulled away ahead of the main pack but still trailed behind Elizabeth.
By the end of the second lap, Shu Han, who was previously part of the main pack, caught up with Yun En. The duo kept a steady pace while Elizabeth maintained her lead in the front.
Despite the large gap between them, Shu Han caught up with Elizabeth with one lap remaining. Yun En had by then fallen behind to rejoin the main pack.
With 200m of the race to go, Shu Han executed a finishing kick to win by nearly 10 seconds, 30m ahead of Elizabeth.
Caitlyn clinched the bronze with a late surge from the pack 100m before the finish line.
“My strategy was to start fast before the lactic kicked in because I knew the rest would catch up eventually. My plan was to try to chase Shu Han as much as possible once she caught me,” said Elizabeth.
“I’m very happy anyway because I didn’t expect to finish on the podium!”
C Division 1500m (Girls) Results (Top 10)
1st Wu Shu Han (#429, Nanyang Girls’ High) — 05:27.83
2nd Elizabeth Liau Le Min (#30, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’) — 05:36.41
3rd Caitlyn Yeo Kai Lin (#28, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’) — 05:42.56
4th Tan Kylie (#272, Crescent Girls’ School) — 05:43.12
5th Celeste Ang Jia Hui (#408, Nanyang Girls’ High) — 05:44.02
6th Isabelle Toh Xin Yi (#432, River Valley High School) — 05:45.25
7th Lee Yun En (#85, North Vista Secondary School) — 05:46.19
8th Thaamaraiselvi D/O Palaniappan (#169, Crescent Girls’ School) — 5:50.61
9th Shawna Tay Le Xuan (#402, Nan Hua High School) — 5:50.70
10th Kang Ming Ying (#379, Jurong Secondary School) — 6:01.97
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