Story by Iman Hashim and Ryan Lim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports.
Shahmee Ruzain (#89) of CJC won gold in 11.22s. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
National Stadium, Friday, April 29, 2016 — S Shahmee Ruzain of Catholic Junior College (CJC) clocked 11.22 seconds to win the A Division Boys’ 100 metres gold at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships.
He bettered his previous personal best of 11.29s, which was clocked in the semi-finals.
It successfully sealed a sprint double for the first-year CJC student, after he had also won the 200m final four days earlier in 22.49s.
Remarkably, it was Shahmee’s first two National Schools medals, in just his second year of competing. Last year, while representing Yishun Town Secondary, he had finished sixth in the B Division 100m (11.76s) and seventh in the 200m (23.86s).
His two golds were also CJC’s first two golds in an A boys’ track event in at least 32 years.
On his run, Shahmee said, “The atmosphere was great! When I went into my blocks I was feeling really nervous, but once I heard the gun, I just started running.”
The race was far from smooth for Shahmee, as he felt a little pull in his hamstrings with 40m to go.
He explained, “Around the 60m mark, my hamstrings began to act up and by the end they were unbearable. I’m very satisfied with my gold medal but not fully satisfied with my timing. I’m really grateful toward my parents, coaches and teammates for this.”
“I hope I continue improving and don’t stagnate. Hopefully under the guidance of my coach (Mr Loh Chan Pew), I will go far in track,” he added.
On the same day, Shahmee helped CJC to an unexpected silver (43.44s) in the 4x100m relay, while he pulled out of the 4x400m relay afterwards because of his hamstring niggle.
On his great season overall, he said, “I feel glad to have won the double gold under CJ’s name. Definitely something I never expected so I am thoroughly grateful.”
“For the 4x100m silver, it is our first relay nationals medal in a long time. To have won the silver, it motivates us more. It is a testament to the fact that hard work pays off; well done to everyone and my team!”
Meanwhile, the Raffles Institution (RI) trio of Ryan James Tan (11.35s), Prem Sathiamoorthy (11.38s) and Joshua Yap (11.42s) all achieved personal bests, finishing in second, third and fourth respectively.
Joshua, the C Division 100m champion in 2013, went under his previous personal best of 11.48s clocked during the heats, while Ryan beat his old mark of 11.44s set in the semi-finals to clinch his first ever National Schools individual medal. Ryan had run a 11.17s at the Singapore Athletics Series 1 in January, but with an illegal +3.7m/s tail wind.
As for Prem, his bronze-medal finish was remarkable considering it is only his first time competing in these annual championships. The RI Year Five student, who previously represented his school in cricket, had only started sprints training last July. His 11.38s timing was a significant improvement from his previous 11.53s mark clocked in the semi-finals.
Said Prem, “I’m really, really happy, I wasn’t really aiming for any position. I just wanted to get a PB and a decent position to earn points for my school. When I saw my timing and position, I was really quite surprised – I didn’t know how to react.”
When asked if this has exceeded his wildest expectations, he said, “Since I just started (track), I was quite nervous and I wasn’t even sure if I would make it into the final. I had never run an official 100m race before – only 200m, in Series 1 – so I didn’t know how I would do. If anyone told me before that I would actually make it into the final for 100m and actually get a medal, I would have just laughed it off as a joke.”
“So when I made it into the final I was really quite happy. And since I was running with more experienced runners, I didn’t know what to expect. Making it onto the podium, it really was a dream come true and it’s probably something I’ll never forget!”
On his silver-winning run, Ryan added, “I feel happy and relieved that I’ve finally achieved an individual medal after 4 years and I’m really thankful to be able to hit my PB. I was actually going for the gold, however I’m satisfied with my performance – I wouldn’t say I’m more than satisfied but I’m grateful for the outcome.”
Later on the same day, Ryan, Prem and Joshua joined forces with their senior Ringo Han to clinch the A Division Boys’ 4x100m relay gold for RI in 43.34s. Shahmee’s CJC team finished just 0.1 seconds behind.
A Division Boys’ 100m – Top 8
1st S Shahmee Ruzain (#89, Catholic JC) — 11.22 seconds
2nd Ryan James Tan Wei Ren (#148, Raffles Institution) — 11.35
3rd Prem Sathiamoorthy (#146, Raffles Institution) — 11.38
4th Joshua Yap Sae Yong (#133, Raffles Institution) — 11.42
5th Mun Yit Hung, Nigel (#164, St. Andrew’s JC) — 11.44
6th Lim En Sheng, Merlin (#181, Tampines JC) — 11.61
7th Teo Wei Yang, Elroy (#234, Anglo-Chinese JC) — 11.63
8th Elgene Chng Junyuan (#248, Hwa Chong Institution) — 12.27
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