Story by REDintern Alyssa Almas. Photos by Iman Hashim/Red Sports and REDintern Julianna Jothi.
A tight race in the A Division boys’ 200m final saw only 0.08s separate first and fourth place. Marcus Tan (#122) of RI clinched the gold in 23.10s, while teammate Timothy D’Cruz (#114) and SAJC’s Solaiy Meyapan (#150) finished second and third in 23.15s and 23.17s respectively. (Photo 1 © Iman Hashim/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Monday, March 25, 2019 — Raffles Institution (RI) bagged both gold medals in the Girls’ and Boys’ A Division 200-metre races through Grace Shani Anthony and Marcus Tan at the 60th National Schools Track and Field Championships.
It is the first time the school has clinched both titles in this event since Shahrir Anuar and Fiona Ng won their respective finals nine years ago.
In the Girls’ event, Grace started off strong, coming off the blocks at breakneck speed. Coming around the bend, she pulled away from Singapore Sports School’s six-time 400m champion Diane Hilary Pragasam.
Flying over the finish line, Grace stopped the clock at 26.09 seconds, almost a whole second ahead of Diane, who came in second with a timing of 26.96s.
Grace’s victory was all the more remarkable after a tumultuous past one year, having been involved in a car accident while overseas in December 2017 which ruled her out of her first A Division season the following year.
Having returned to the track only half a year ago, her winning time was impressively just 0.09s shy of her personal best of 26.00s, achieved in the 2017 B Division final.
Grace was all smiles after the race, and was relieved she has managed to win her last 200m race at the annual inter-school meet.
The second-year junior college student thanked her coach, Melvin Tan, and friends for their support, which spurred her on to try her best.
In the Boys’ final, Marcus Tan led a 1-2 finish for RI, clocking 23.10s to edge out teammate Timothy D’Cruz to the gold. In an extremely tight race, only eight hundredths of a second separated first and fourth place.
Timothy grabbed the silver in 23.15s, while Solaiy Meyapan (23.17s) of St. Andrew’s Junior College and Or Yong Jing (23.18s) of Hwa Chong Institution finished third and fourth respectively.
Initially unsure whether he had won, Marcus was in disbelief after being informed of the results — this was his first time competing in the event in his six years of track.
“I’ve actually been suffering from a hamstring injury, so I decided to go easy on myself and go for the shorter races,” clarified Marcus, who won bronze in the 400m. “This is my first time ever competing in the 200m race, so I was not expecting this result at all.”
The result also meant he bettered his personal best of 23.34s, which was achieved in the semis.
Animatedly sharing his thoughts, Marcus said: “My friends expected me to do well, so I was extremely nervous coming into today’s race. Honestly I had no expectations at all, after all it was my first time competing in this event. I was not looking for a podium finish, just to beat my own personal best.”
“However, I would like to thank the rest of the competitors for today. Everyone was very friendly, and showed good sportsmanship, cheering each other on even in the call room,” he said with a smile.
A Division Girls’ 200m Final – Results
1st Grace Shani Anthony (Raffles Institution, #399) — 26.09 seconds
2nd Diane Hilary Pragasam (Singapore Sports School, #324) — 26.96
3rd Kathya Kodrika (Victoria Junior College, #458) — 27.00
4th Camille Alix Damas (Anglo Chinese School (International), #352) —27.25
5th Lim Xin Yu, Clarissa (National Junior College, #380) — 27.50
6th Phoebe Angeline Law (Hwa Chong Institution, #517) — 27.60
7th Ashleigh Sonia Hazra (Saint Andrew’s Junior College, #414) — 27.89
8th Natalie Shek (Saint Joseph’s Institution (International), #434) — 28.27
A Division Boys’ 200m Final – Results
1st Marcus Tan Lai He (Raffles Institution, #122) —23.10 seconds
2nd Timothy Joshua D’Cruz (Raffles Institution, #114) — 23.15
3rd Solaiy Meyapan (St. Andrew’s Junior College, #150) — 23.17
4th Or Yong Jing (Hwa Chong Institution, #259) — 23.18
5th Toh Ping Sian, Justin (Eunoia Junior College, #18) — 23.27
6th Sin Ming Wei (Hwa Chong Institution, #265) — 23.30
7th Gerard Wirawan (St. Joseph’s Institution (International), #165) — 23.76
8th Lee Jun Leong Samuel (Raffles Institution, #116) — 23.83
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