With their tag as traditional powerhouses in schools' track and field, one would think that Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) are dominant in the marquee relay events. They turned out to be, but not before erasing a few relay gold droughts in the girls' A Division and C boys' 4 by 100 metres at the 63rd National Schools Track and Field Championships.
As Harry Irfan Curran crossed the finish line first in the C Division boys’ 4 by 400 metres relay final, he raised his arms into a heart shape directed at his Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) teammates. That gesture stemmed from relief more than anything. A day earlier in the 4x100m relay final, the same quartet — the favourites having qualified fastest — got disqualified when second runner John Tan, the 200m hurdles champion, fell in the exchange zone and outgoing runner Sean Gerard Yoo picked up the baton before his teammate did.
In a heart-stopping final, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) defeated Raffles Institution by a single unconverted try, to claim their seventh straight title as their parents and friends watched from the stadium stands.
After entering the long jump six-metre club, Hwa Chong Institution (HCI)'s Ethan Kong hopped, stepped and leapt over 12.53 metres to take victory in the C Division boys' triple jump. The Secondary 2 student erased his previous best mark of 12.09m recorded at the Singapore Athletics U16/U18/U20 Championships a month ago, making it two personal bests in a row after claiming the long jump silver with 6.00m the previous week.
With all other events on the track completed and with dozens of pairs of eyes on him, Raffles Institution (RI)’s Aloysius Loh delivered on his final throw — and literally the last piece of action at the meet — to snatch victory and eclipse the A Division boys’ shot put (5kg) record with 17.89 metres.
A tense semi-final match saw Raffles Institution (RI) beat Anglo-Chinese Junior College to claim their place in the National A Division Rugby final.
HCI's Eleana Goh (#85) wrapped up the sprint double with victory in the A Div girls' 100m final clocking 12.44s (+2.8m/s), while VJC's Ashley Tan (#216), champion in the 100m hurdles, took silver in 12.82s.
RI's Anson Loh (#322), who set a new national U15 and championship record in the C Division boys' discus (1kg) with a throw of 58.88 metres, sealed his second gold of the meet with a personal best 15.51m in the shot put (4kg) event.
