By REDintern Soh Rui Yong

Bedok Reservoir, Saturday, January 23, 2010 – Reigning National Schools A Division girls champions Raffles Institution swept the individual and team titles in both the U-18 and U-20 categories at the 59th Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) Cross Country Championships 2010. The event was held over a 4.3km-long course. In doing so, they showed to be firmly on track to defend their National Schools title come March 24.

The RI girls' team were unmatched in both quality and depth, with Mok Ying Rong and team captain Look Xinqi claiming the U-18 and U-20 titles respectively. Mok's performance was particularly spectacular. She clocked a time of 16 minutes 56 seconds for the 4.3km course and dispatched the rest of the field with ease. Her closest competitors, Cheryl Chan Xue Rou (18.01) and Romaine Soh Rui Min (18.28), both of Cedar Girls Secondary School, were well over a minute behind, though both turned in commendable performances as well. They will surely be strong contenders in the ´B' Division at the National Schools Championships.

Meanwhile, Look Xinqi clocked 17:56 to win the U-20 category race. Defending National Schools champion Chew Hanyu followed close behind in 18:04 to make it a 1-2 finish for Raffles, despite suffering a leg cramp towards the end of the race. Francoise Lee Lexin of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) finished in 19:38 to round up the top three.

The RI girls may have clearly stated their intention and ability to defend their National Schools title, but with two months to go before the big race, there is still plenty of time for their rivals to improve and pour on the pressure. The battle lines are drawn, and the race starts now!

Individual Results
Women's U-16
i001 SU ZANN RV U16A 00:18:50.09
002 JOLENE QUE RV U16C 00:19:24.13
003 VALENCIA QUAH RVU16A 00:19:37.61
004 HEE YU NING RVU16C 00:19:51.68
005 SHARYL QUEK RVU16A 00:19:52.57
006 NICOLE LUM SSP TEAM 4 00:20:03.68
007 TAN WAN QIN SSP TEAM 4 00:20:10.43
008 TAN WAN XIN RGS TEAM 3 00:20:32.28
009 VALERIE OH CEDAR GIRLS A 00:20:33.00
010 TAN XIN HUI PLMGSS TEAM 1 00:20:33.41

Women's U-18
001 MOK YING RONG RI TEAM 4 00:16:56.65
002 CHERYL CHAN CEDAR GIRLS 2 00:18:01.82
003 ROMAINE SOH CEDAR GIRLS 2 00:18:28.80
004 LIVIA MUELLER UWCSEA TEAM 2 00:18:41.24
005 WAN ZAHRAH RI TEAM 4 00:18:44.80
006 DEBBIE HO CEDAR GIRLS 1 00:18:52.53
007 JOANNE CHEW RVU18 00:19:08.25
008 LOH YUE YIN RVU18 00:19:40.12
009 TAYLA MURPHY UWCSEA TEAM 2 00:20:09.63
010 SEOW YUN YUN CEDAR GIRLS 1 00:20:13.37

Women's U-20
001 LOOK XINQI RI TEAM 3 00:17:56.40
002 CHEW HANYU RI TEAM 3 00:18:04.94
003 LEE LEXIN FRANCOISE HCIC TEAM 2 00:19:38.69
004 GUO CHANG HCIC TEAM 2 00:20:12.10
005 ZOE PETARO INDV 00:20:27.69
006 GWENDOLYN TAN SHU BIN INDV 00:20:33.97
007 CERA TAN YING JING ACJC TEAM 1 00:20:35.62
008 NG WEI TING ACJC TEAM 1 00:20:40.11
009 ALEXANDRIA WONG HCIC TEAM 2 00:20:52.05
010 NATALIE CHEN RI TEAM 3 00:20:56.56

Women's Open
001 VIVIAN TANG INDV 00:16:26.70
002 Vicky Hill MR25W 00:17:28.21
003 RANJITHA RAJA SWIFT 3 00:18:10.73
004 TAN HUIMIN MELISSA NUS TEAM 1 00:18:17.86
005 MIKA KUME MR25W 00:18:27.23
006 LIN CUI WEN YVONNE SWIFT 3 00:18:33.86
007 LOKE JIA XUAN SWIFT 3 00:18:35.66
008 ChrisNna Ledig MR25W 00:18:50.75
009 CAI SANG NUS TEAM 1 00:19:20.72
010 Melinda Paterson MR25W 00:19:32.21

Team Results
Women's U-16
1 RVU16A 9
2 RVU16C 23
3 SSP TEAM 4 32

Women's U-18
1 RI TEAM 4 17
2 CEDAR GIRLS 2 28
3 CEDAR GIRLS 1 29

Women's U-20
1 RI TEAM 3 13
2 HCI TEAM 2 16
3 ACJC TEAM 1 30

Women's Open
1 MR25W 15
2 SWIFT 3 16
3 NUS TEAM 1 24