Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck and Eileen Chew/Red Sports
Joshua Lim (#79) celebrates after anchoring Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) to win the A Division boys’ 4x100m final. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
National Stadium, Thursday, April 12, 2018 — The photos say it all. When Joshua Lim of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) crossed the finish line first in the A Division boys’ 4 by 100 metres relay final, he could barely conceal his emotions. It was pure ecstasy.
He had just led ACS(I) to their first ever 4x100m relay gold in the A Division, following up their C Division juniors’ victory just moments ago.
The two wins were ACS(I)’s first 4x100m relay golds across the divisions in eight years — since the quartet of Let Jian Jie, Ng Chin Hui, Haikal Ismail and Darren Koh won the B Division final in a then-meet record of 42.58 seconds in 2010.
The ACS(I) class of 2018 surely made their mark — the C Division quartet of Roysius Tay, Julian Chew, Xavier Tan and Mark Lee fended off Victoria School’s challenge to take gold in 45.29s, while A Division boys David Tameeris, Shaun Choo, Oliver Lim and Joshua roared to victory in 42.46s.
Joshua, champion in the 200m and 400m, later anchored his team to a second successive win in the 4x400m relay, which made him a quadruple gold medallist for the first time at the annual National Schools Track and Field Championships. Fittingly so, in his last year competing for the school.
“Today’s runs were pretty amazing,” said Joshua, who holds the B and C Division 400m records. “Most of us would think of just finishing our race, but I think our athletes here left it all on the track. Most of us were final year athletes, and I think everyone gave it their best.”
“Today was a beautiful swansong and I thank God for this opportunity to race one last time.”
Just as Joshua ends his schoolboy track career, his successors may have already been found. Mark Lee, a 100-200m champion, and Julian Chew, gold and silver medallist in the 400m and 200m respectively, combined to devastating effect in both C boys’ relays to ensure ACS(I) captured four relay golds in total.
“The 4×400 exceeded my expectations,” said Mark. “The 4×100 was scary too when VS were ahead of us going into the fourth leg, but I’m glad I was able to overtake the last runner so I’m really happy with the win.”
Yet, when it comes to twin terrors running for the same team, no pair can be as terrifying as Nanyang Girls’ High School (NYGH) duo Bernice Liew and Elizabeth-Ann Tan.
Both girls had earlier earned a one-two finish in the B girls’ 100m sprint, with Bernice clocking 12.37s to break Singapore Sports School (SSP) alumna Eugenia Tan’s meet record, and finishing just 0.03s ahead of Elizabeth, who last year set a new C Division mark of 12.41s.
The two talents then helped NYGH dominate in the relays, clocking 48.50s and 4:08.10 in the 4x100m and 4x400m respectively. The winning margin over second-placed SSP was more than a full second for the former, and more than seven seconds for the latter.
“For me, I ran all three (100m, 4x100m, 4x400m) last year, so I prepared myself mentally and physically for it,” said Elizabeth. “It’s our last race of the season, so we just had to go all out for it.”
Added Bernice: “It’s the final day and after this, there would not be much competitions. So I just gave it my all.”
The time clocked by NYGH’s 4x100m team — that also included Tiffany Yau and Valencia Ho — places them second-fastest in the all-time B Division girls’ rankings, only behind the 2011 record of 48.22s, set by an SSP team which featured the likes of Eugenia and reigning sprint queen Shanti Pereira.
SSP, usual suspects in the relays, were sure not to leave empty-handed, garnering four golds in the A and C girls’ 4x100m and the A girls’ and B boys’ 4x400m.
The SSP boys wrecked their competition in the B Division 4x400m, stopping the clock at 3:26.20 — just 0.04s outside the championship record set by their seniors in 2016.
Chong Wei Guan, who was part of that team two years ago, may not have won any relay golds this time but his team’s fourth-placed finish in the A boys’ 4x100m was a victory of its own.
With only Wei Guan and twin brother Wei Kit — a high jumper — in SSP’s A boys athletics team, swimmer Ng Jian Yan and fencer Danial Haqim had to be roped in to form a relay quartet.
“Really, we just wanted to come here and have fun,” said Wei Guan, who won the 100m and set a new national under-20 and meet record in the 110m hurdles. “A medal was really a bonus for us, because we just wanted to run a good race. We are really proud of ourselves.”
In a first for the annual championships, nine teams competed in each relay final, while fourth-placed finishers in every event also received medals — a move organisers hope would reward more athletes.
Results
C Division Girls’ 4x100m Relay
1st Singapore Sports School — 50.71 seconds
2nd Nanyang Girls’ High School — 50.78
3rd Cedar Girls’ Secondary — 52.53
4th CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School — 53.17
5th Raffles Girls’ School — 53.66
6th CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) — 54.21
7th Changkat Changi Secondary — 55.28
8th Crescent Girls’ Sechool — 55.69
9th Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School — DQ
C Division Boys’ 4x100m Relay
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 45.29 seconds
2nd Victoria School — 45.67
3rd Singapore Sports School — 46.67
4th Hwa Chong Institution — 46.93
5th Raffles Institution — 47.64
6th Tanjong Katong Secondary — 48.03
7th Bedok View Secondary — 48.10
8th St. Joseph’s Institution — 48.43
9th Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary — 48.46
B Division Girls’ 4x100m Relay
1st Nanyang Girls’ High School — 48.50 seconds
2nd Singapore Sports School — 49.58
3rd Cedar Girls’ Secondary — 50.55
4th CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) — 51.54
5th CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School — 51.61
6th Dunman High School — 52.79
7th Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary — 53.37
8th CHIJ Katong Convent — 54.75
9th Raffles Girls’ School — 54.85
B Division Boys’ 4x100m Relay
1st Hwa Chong Institution — 43.96 seconds
2nd Catholic High School — 44.25
3rd Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 44.74
4th Raffles Institution — 44.82
5th St. Patrick’s School — 45.23
6th North Vista Secondary — 46.21
7th Hua Yi Secondary — 46.24
8th Temasek Secondary — 46.49
9th Gan Eng Seng School — 46.68
A Division Girls’ 4x100m Relay
1st Singapore Sports School — 49.50 seconds
2nd Hwa Chong Institution — 50.34
3rd Anglo-Chinese Junior College — 51.91
4th Raffles Institution — 51.94
5th Victoria Junior College — 52.19
6th National Junior College — 52.45
7th St. Joseph’s Institution (International) — 53.49
8th St. Andrew’s Junior College — 53.73
9th Dunman High School — 53.74
A Division Boys’ 4x100m Relay
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 42.46 seconds
2nd Hwa Chong Institution — 43.25
3rd Raffles Institution — 43.98
4th Singapore Sports School — 44.15
5th Serangoon Junior College — 44.63
6th Dunman High School — 44.66
7th St. Joseph’s Institution (International) — 44.70
8th Victoria Junior College — 44.78
9th Catholic Junior College — 44.84
C Division Girls’ 4x400m Relay
1st CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School — 4:21.84
2nd Cedar Girls’ Secondary — 4:22.19
3rd Singapore Sports School — 4:23.95
4th Crescent Girls’ School — 4:30.17
5th Nanyang Girls’ High School — 4:31.22
6th Raffles Girls’ School — 4:33.27
7th Changkat Changi Secondary — 4:42.37
8th National Junior College — 4:46.65
9th Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary — 4:49.25
C Division Boys’ 4x400m Relay
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 3:42.90
2nd Singapore Sports School — 3:45.09
3rd Hwa Chong Institution — 3:47.45
4th Victoria School — 3:50.51
5th Raffles Institution — 3:54.61
6th NUS High School — 3:54.99
7th Tanjong Katong Secondary — 3:55.46
8th St. Joseph’s Institution — 4:00.36
9th Catholic High School — 4:05.10
B Division Girls’ 4x400m Relay
1st Nanyang Girls’ High School — 4:08.10
2nd Singapore Sports School — 4:15.29
3rd Cedar Girls’ Secondary — 4:18.64
4th CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) — 4:18.67
5th CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School — 4:21.87
6th Dunman High School — 4:26.51
7th Crescent Girls’ School — 4:27.55
8th National Junior College — 4:29.14
9th Raffles Girls’ School — 4:42.67
B Division Boys’ 4x400m Relay
1st Singapore Sports School — 3:26.20
2nd Raffles Institution — 3:33.89
3rd Catholic High School — 3:36.09
4th St. Joseph’s Institution — 3:36.88
5th Hwa Chong Institution — 3:38.17
6th Hua Yi Secondary — 3:39.04
7th Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 3:40.64
8th Victoria School — 3:42.79
9th Jurong Secondary — 3:44.39
A Division Girls’ 4x400m Relay
1st Singapore Sports School — 4:07.85
2nd Hwa Chong Institution — 4:16.95
3rd National Junior College — 4:21.65
4th Victoria Junior College — 4:21.77
5th Raffles Institution — 4:22.98
6th Dunman High School — 4:27.24
7th St. Joseph’s Institution — 4:28.45
8th Anglo-Chinese Junior College — 4:35.11
9th Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 4:36.89
A Division Boys’ 4x400m Relay
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 3:25.78
2nd Hwa Chong Institution — 3:27.36
3rd Raffles Institution — 3:28.36
4th National Junior College — 3:29.31
5th Victoria Junior College — 3:32.94
6th Dunman High School — 3:38.43
7th Pioneer Junior College — 3:38.55
8th St. Andrew’s Junior College — 3:38.99
9th Eunoia Junior College — 3:41.30
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