Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Cheah Wenqi and Jerald Ang/Red Sports.

Hassan Khan narrowly beating Joshua Chua to the finish line, earning Catholic Junior College the A Division boys’ 4x100m relay gold with a timing of 42.70s. (Photo 1 © Jerald Ang/Red Sports)

National Stadium, Friday, April 28, 2017 — In the A Division boys’ 4 by 100 metres relay final last year, Raffles Institution (RI) edged out Catholic Junior College (CJC) to gold by 0.1 seconds.

At the 58th National Schools Track and Field Championships this year, the tables were turned.

The CJC quartet of Jon-Patric De Mello, Shahmee Ruzain, Alphonsus Teow and Hassan Khan got the better of their rivals this time, crossing the finish first in 42.70s. RI finished 0.1s behind in 42.80s, while Hwa Chong Institution was a close third in 42.84s.

Coached by Fabian William, CJC’s victory proved to be historic – it is the first boys’ relay gold for the school in at least 38 years.

Going into the final, RI looked to be the favourites with three 100m finalists: Ryan James Tan, Prem Sathiamoorthy and Joshua Chua, who is the B Division record holder in the century sprint. Joshua Yap, who was the 2013 C Division 100m winner, completed the quartet.

However, CJC – with sprint double champion Shahmee on the second leg – had recent results on their side, qualifying fastest from the heats in this meet and winning the 4x100m at last month’s SPH Schools Relay Championships.

But in both races, RI were without Joshua Chua, who was nursing a hamstring injury.

CJC anchor runner Hassan admitted their doubt prior to this final.

“It’s really competitive,” he said. “We were aware that Joshua Chua wasn’t running during (the SPH meet), so we were not really satisfied with our result (then). So initially I was nervous, but we all just gave our best. Everyone really contributed, we all trained very hard to improve our passing, and in the end we achieved a satisfying result.”

Aided by Shahmee’s storming second leg on the back straight, Hassan received the baton in first place for the anchor, and successfully held off Joshua’s challenge until the finish.

Said Shahmee, “During (the SPH meet) we felt that there were a lot of things to improve on, like getting our baton passing on point. But still coming here, it was anybody’s game – with Joshua Chua coming in, and what if RI were in-form on the day and don’t make a single mistake – so we were praying that we would win it, that’s our aim, and in the end we achieved it. So I’m very happy.”

Joshua, meanwhile, was gracious in defeat.

“The 4x100m is more than just about raw speed (of the runners),” said the RI Year Five student. “I wouldn’t say we were the favourites although we would have loved to win. I don’t think we did anything particularly wrong – the other teams ran their hearts out and they deserved it.”

“The CJC and Hwa Chong teams perfected their race plan and baton passing, and those passes really helped them cut down on the timings. That’s why the 4x100m is such a fun and interesting event.”

“The only (regret) I can think of, maybe, was the lack of training for our baton passing. Due to my injury, the runners had to shift around and we had to get used to new positions. This was my first full relay with them, so partly it was my fault for being injured,” Joshua added.

Later in the afternoon, Hassan and Alphonsus also ran the 4x400m relay alongside CJC teammates Joshua Tan and Malcolm Tay, finishing seventh. For RI, Ryan teamed up with Shaun Hin, Dylan Lim and Lee Joon Hei to come in fourth.

A Division Boys 4x100m Relay – Top 8
1st Catholic Junior College – 42.70 seconds
2nd Raffles Institution – 42.80
3rd Hwa Chong Institution – 42.84
4th Singapore Sports School – 43.09
5th St. Andrew’s Junior College – 43.52
6th Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) – 43.67
7th Victoria Junior College – 44.07
8th Tampines Junior College – 45.02

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