Story by REDintern Fang Yiyang. Photos by Iman Hashim/Red Sports

Ethan Yan of Hwa Chong Institution finished first in the Under-20 Men's category with a timing of 16:03.7 over 4.8 kilometres. (Photo 1 © Iman Hashim/Red Sports)

Ethan Yan of Hwa Chong Institution finished first in the Under-20 Men’s category with a timing of 16:03.7 over 4.8 kilometres. (Photo 1 © Iman Hashim/Red Sports)

Bedok Reservoir, Saturday, February 23, 2019 — Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) emerged clear victors in the Under-20 categories at the Wings Cross Country Championships — equivalent to the A Division category in the National School Games — ahead of the National Schools Cross Country Championships in April.

In the U20 Men’s race, Ethan Yan of HCI emerged as the winner 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Nedunchezian Selvageethan of Raffles Institution (RI), clocking a timing of 16 minutes and 3 seconds over 4.8 kilometres.

“I think the race started very fast. I just tried to see how long I could hang on to the front group of runners from the Open category. I managed to hang on for about half the race. After the slope they pulled away and I sort of just maintained my pace,” said Ethan, who is also HCI’s A Division team captain.

The U20 runners ran alongside competitors in the Men’s Open category, although prizes were given out separately for the two categories. From the start of the race, most of the Open category runners along with the top U20 runners formed the front pack, with the Open category competitors pulling away in the second half of the race.

Fabe Downs of Switzerland finished first in 15:22, with the top six Men’s Open competitors all finishing under 16 minutes.

In the team championships, RI proved to be strong competitors for HCI, with Selva finishing second in 16:23, Armand Dhilawala Mohan fifth in 16:46 and Joshua Yong seventh in 17:09.

However, they were sandwiched by Ethan’s teammates Dave Tung in third place and Joshua Rajendran in fourth, with timings of 16:28 and 16:45 respectively. Dave and Ethan were second and fourth respectively in last year’s National Schools Cross Country Championships.

As the four fastest runners per team determined the results of the team championships, HCI’s Yeo Zhi Yan’s 11th-placing aided the school in a clear victory over RI, whose fourth runner, Tan Jian Wei, was in 24th place. HCI scored 19 points compared to RI’s 38 points.

“The race started quite fast. I tried keeping up with Ethan but after 1km the gap opened up. Afterwards I just tried to keep following the remaining pack as much as I could,” said Selva.

In the U20 Women’s race, Caylee Chua of Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) emerged victorious with a timing of 15:44 over the 3.8km route. HCI’s Clarice Lau, Vera Wah and Toh Pei Xuan finished second to fourth place, with Jolene Tan’s sixth-place finish securing the team championship for HCI with 15 points.

“I think everyone did well, but it’s not the end yet. We will keep working hard to maintain these results,” commented Ethan on HCI’s double victory.

The National Schools Cross Country Championships will be held on April 10, 2019 at Bedok Reservoir, where HCI will look to retain their clean sweep of A Boys’, A Girls’, B Boys’ and C Boys’ titles from last year. Traditionally, the Wings Cross Country route follows the National Schools one as much as possible.

U20 Men’s Individual Results
4.8km
1st Ethan Yan (#20089, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16:03.7
2nd Nedunchezian Selvageethan (#20107, Raffles Institution) — 16:23.1
3rd Dave Tung (#20090, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16:28.8
4th Joshua Rajendran (#20092, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16:45.7
5th Armand Dhilawala Mohan (#20109, Raffles Institution) — 16:46.8
6th Ethan Chua Yi (#20074, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 16:51.8
7th Joshua Yong Zhi Hao (#20110, Raffles Institution) — 17:09.8
8th V Karnan Tharun (#20101, JS Athletics) — 17:13.5
9th Rajesh Muthu S/O Ramanathan (#20073, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 17:17.4
10th Lin Jing Chao (#20120, River Valley High School) — 17:20.4

U20 Men’s Team Results
1st Hwa Chong Institution — 19 points
1st Ethan Yan (#20089)
3rd Dave Tung (#20090)
4th Joshua Rajendran (#20092)
11th Yeo Zhi Yan (#20091)

2nd Raffles Institution — 38 points
2nd Nedunchezian Selvageethan (#20107)
5th Armand Dhilawala Mohan (#20109)
7th Joshua Yong Zhi Hao (#20110)
24th Tan Jian Wei (#20106)

3rd Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 52 points
6th Ethan Chua Yi (#20074)
9th Rajesh Muthu S/O Ramanathan (#20073)
17th Amir Osman Rusyaidi (#20076)
20th Harpreet Singh (#20075)

4th Anglo-Chinese Junior College — 68 points
13th Abu Bakar Bin Mohd Rafique (#20070)
15th Russell Lee Kang Zheng (#20069)
19th Tean Guo En (#20068)
21st Chen Zhao (#20072)

U20 Women’s Individual Results
3.8km
1st Caylee Chua Hsi-Ern (#20006, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 15:44.9
2nd Clarice Lau (#20031, Hwa Chong Institution) — 15:47.1
3rd Vera Wah (#20026, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16:15.2
4th Toh Pei Xuan (#20028, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16:43.4
5th Koh Jia Xuan (#20048, Team Runfanatics) — 16:49.5
6th Jolene Tan (#20029, Hwa Chong Institution) — 16:56.4
7th Rebecca Yeo Wen Yu (#20037, Raffles Institution) — 17:06.4
8th Charmaine Siew (#20059, Victoria Junior College) — 17:20.4
9th Charlene Lim (#20030, Hwa Chong Institution) — 17:21.1
10th Lim Zhi Xuan (#20039, Raffles Institution) — 17:21.4

U20 Women’s Team Results
1st Hwa Chong Institution — 15 points
2nd Clarice Lau (#20031)
3rd Vera Wah (#20026)
4th Toh Pei Xuan (#20028)
6th Jolene Tan (#20029)

2nd Raffles Institution — 45 points
7th Rebecca Yeo Wen Yu (#20037)
10th Lim Zhi Xuan (#20039)
13th Lim Xin Hui (#20036)
15th Xu Ziqian (#20040)

3rd Victoria Junior College — 59 points
11th Amanda Wong (#20053)
12th Ang Jia Yi (#20055)
16th Melina Thebe (#20052)
20th Chu Yi (#20054)

4th Anglo-Chinese Junior College — 81 points
1st Caylee Chua Hsi-Ern (#20006)
22nd Wendy Chiu (#20004)
27th Loo Xin Li (#20001)
31st Faith Lek (#20005)

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