Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Iman Hashim and Jared Khoo/Red Sports.
Ong Jung Yi of ACS(I) comes up for air one last time before breaking the meet record for the A Division Boys’ 200m butterfly by almost five seconds with a time of 2:01.93. (Photo 1 © Jared Khoo/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Friday, April 26, 2019 — Faced with a bout of asthma attacks that recurred last year, the past few months of regaining top form in the pool were no less trying for Ong Jung Yi.
“It was quite a challenge,” said the Year 6 student of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent). “It had affected my training a little, because it caused me to have less stamina so I couldn’t really keep up with the pace, especially for an event like 200 fly.
“It’s a very long and tiring event, so it really affects my race especially at the later part,” Jung Yi explained.
Despite the setback, the ACS(I) swim team captain managed to erase his doubts by wiping out the A Division boys’ 200-metre butterfly meet record on the final day of the 60th National Schools Swimming Championships, surpassing the previous mark by nearly five full seconds.
While falling short of his personal best of 1 minute 59.76 seconds set at last year’s Singapore National Swimming Championships (SNSC), Jung Yi’s time of 2:01.93 was enough to shatter the meet record of 2:06.85 held by ACS(I) alumnus Jerryl Yong for six years.
“I’m getting closer to my personal best time, so I’m very happy because I was actually quite nervous before the event as the 200 fly is a very tiring race for me,” Jung Yi added.
His gold in the event, where he finished more than seven seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Lau Wei Hong, added to his other individual victory in the 100m butterfly a day earlier. He had won the shorter event in 54.20s, just short of his own meet record of 54.12s set last year.
He had also swum the butterfly leg for ACS(I)’s victorious 4x50m medley relay team on Thursday, and took on the third leg of ACS(I)’s record-breaking 4x50m freestyle relay swim in the championships’ concluding race on Friday.
The ACS(I) freestyle relay quartet, which also comprised of Mikkel Lee, Gabriel Foo and Jonathan Tan, stopped the clock at 1:33.93 to crack their seniors’ 2016 meet record of 1:35.16.
Mikkel had led ACS(I) off with a 23.06s first leg in the relay, setting a new A Division boys’ 50m freestyle benchmark which previously stood at 24.07s. Earlier in the day, the swim sprint specialist had also broken the A Division boys’ 50m backstroke record by touching the wall at 26.60s, adding to the 50m butterfly record of 24.44s which he set on Thursday.
ACS(I)’s anchor for both relays, Jonathan Tan, also established two individual meet records in the 200m freestyle (1:51.17) on Thursday and 100m freestyle (50.64s) on Friday.
Not wanting to be outdone, their junior Gabriel Koo in fact kickstarted the record-setting spree on Friday afternoon — paving the way for a total of eight championship marks to be rewritten in the final session of the meet, which also included the feats of Raffles Institution’s Cherlyn Yeoh (56.02s) in the A Division girls’ 100m freestyle and Methodist Girls’ School’s Ashley Lim (2:19.83) in the C Division girls’ 200m butterfly.
Gabriel’s record swim in the C Division boys’ 50m backstroke was one of six achieved by ACS(I) swimmers on the final day, and added to his other individual meet record in the 200m backstroke.
“To be honest, it was a 50-50 thing for me, I knew I could do it but it just depended on how hard and how much I wanted to do it,” said the Secondary 2 student of his feat in the one-lap event.
His 27.65s timing surpassed the previous meet record of 27.68s set by ACS(I) old boy Francis Fong in 2014, while he swam 2:10.86 in the 200m backstroke heats on April 23 to annihilate the 2:17.27 record clocked by ACS (Barker Road)’s Dexter Foo last year.
“I definitely put in a lot of effort and I think it is well-deserved,” Gabriel added. “I knew I could do it all along, and it was something I wanted to work towards, so I think as long as I tried my best, I could do it.”
Gabriel went on to swim the second leg of the 4x50m freestyle relay together with teammates Jordan Ong, Cohen Barron Chiam and Fredrick Fong, setting ACS(I) on their way to dominate all three boys’ freestyle relay finals in the last three races of the day. The girls’ freestyle relays were won by RI for the A Division and MGS for the B and C Divisions, ensuring that the champions of the freestyle relays mirrored that of the overall team title winners.
ACS(I) once again retained their stranglehold of all boys’ divisional championships with a sixth straight grand slam of A, B and C titles, while RI and MGS retained their A and B girls’ titles with the latter also dethroning defending champions and nearest rivals Raffles Girls’ School in the girls’ C Division.
SELECTED RESULTS
C Division Boys’ 50m Backstroke
1st Gabriel Koo Yingxuan (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 27.65 seconds (New MR)
2nd Mateen Lutfiy Shyam (Raffles Institution) — 29.19
3rd Russell Loo Zhi Yang (Raffles Institution) — 29.96
4th Josef Lam Jin Hui (Gan Eng Seng School) — 30.71
A Division Boys’ 50m Backstroke
1st Mikkel Lee Jun Jie (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 26.60 seconds (New MR)
2nd Isaac Pang Yu Jie (Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 28.44
3rd Julian Dazzel Jeow (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 29.36
4th Lim Kah Yi (Pathlight School) — 30.09
A Division Girls’ 100m Freestyle
1st Cherlyn Yeoh Chzie Lin (Raffles Institution) — 56.02 seconds (New MR)
2nd Tang Yee Teng (Raffles Institution) — 1:01.95
3rd Renee Wee Yu Ting (Singapore Sports School) — 1:02.31
4th Chloe Ng Jing Ting (Temasek Junior College) — 1:07.32
A Division Boys’ 100m Freestyle
1st Jonathan Tan Eu Jin (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 50.64 seconds (New MR)
2nd Ethan Lim Kai (Raffles Institution) — 54.09
3rd Ryan Sim Jun Hong (Catholic Junior College) — 57.65
4th Kiran Lim Tao Liang (Catholic Junior College) — 58.23
C Division Girls’ 200m Butterfly
1st Ashley Lim Yi-Xuan (Methodist Girls’ School) — 2:19.83 (New MR)
2nd Tricia Yau Mei Hui (Raffles Girls’ School) — 2:29.75
3rd Jessiree Kwok Jie Ning (Methodist Girls’ School) — 2:32.66
4th Lauren Denise Ting Jia Li (Raffles Girls’ School) — 2:44.29
A Division Boys’ 200m Butterfly
1st Ong Jung Yi (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 2:01.93 (New MR)
2nd Lau Wei Hong (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 2:09.44
3rd Jaryl Yeo Kai Peng (Raffles Institution) — 2:10.25
4th Joshua Ler Shuen Young (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 2:29.74
A Division Boys’ 4x50m Freestyle Relay
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) [Mikkel Lee*, Gabriel Foo, Ong Jung Yi, Jonathan Tan] — 1:33.93 (New MR)
2nd Raffles Institution [Ethan Lim, Daryl Tan, Rhys Ng, Glen Lim] — 1:36.22
3rd Anglo-Chinese Junior College [Matthew Lim, Gareth Pang, Ong Jer Gg, Isaac Pang] — 1:44.45
4th Catholic Junior College [Ryan Sim, Charlton Ng, Kiran Lim, Ryan Lim] — 1:44.76
*Mikkel Lee of ACS(I) also set a new A Division Boys’ 50m Freestyle meet record by clocking 23.06s for the lead leg of the relay. The previous record was 24.07s, set in 2017 by Zane Khoe of ACS(I).
DIVISIONAL TEAM STANDINGS
A Division Boys
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 261.5 points
2nd Raffles Institution — 159
3rd Anglo-Chinese Junior College — 74
4th Catholic Junior College — 59
B Division Boys
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 287 points
2nd Raffles Institution — 124
3rd Singapore Sports School — 64
4th Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Rd) — 57
C Division Boys
1st Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 240 points
2nd Raffles Institution — 111
3rd Singapore Sports School — 65
4th Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Rd) — 32
A Division Girls
1st Raffles Institution — 216 points
2nd Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 95
3rd Anglo-Chinese Junior College — 87
4th Temasek Junior College — 66
B Division Girls
1st Methodist Girls’ School — 188 points
2nd Raffles Girls’ School — 160
3rd Singapore Sports School — 111
4th Singapore Chinese Girls’ School — 30
C Division Girls
1st Methodist Girls’ School — 200 points
2nd Raffles Girls’ School — 176
3rd Singapore Sports School — 109
4th Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School — 32
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