Jeevanesh (#260, right) of HCI, in action here during the 1500m race at the 2010 Track and Field Championships, is the strong favourite to take home the individual A Division title. Jeeva was last year’s cross-country silver medallist in the same division. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
A Division Boys — A Battle Royale
If last year’s B Division race was the crown jewel of the championships, this year’s A Division competition looks set to be twice as exciting.
The strong favourite to take home the individual title will undoubtedly have to be last year’s silver medallist and reigning A Division 1500m champion Jeevaneesh Soundarajah of Hwa Chong Institution. ‘Jeeva’ has a long list of accolades to his name, most notably the 2010 Standard Chartered Singapore 10 km title he won last December.
He also recently finished a close second to Wings Athletics Club’s Soh Rui Yong at the Wings Cross Country Championships in the Men’s Open Category, after a fierce duel. He clocked 13:36 for the 4.3 km route, and was the top schoolboy at the meet. Jeevaneesh will head into the nationals hoping that he can finally win the most prestigious title on the junior running scene, but will face strong challenges from a clutch of other athletes who are as hungry for success, if not more so.
Firstly, Jeeva will encounter an old foe in the form of ACS(I)’s Zachary Devaraj. Jeeva and Zach met twice in major competitions in 2009, with Zachary holding off Jeeva at the National Schools Track and Field Championships in the B Boys’ 1500m final to win the gold.
Jeeva, however, exacted revenge soon after at the National Junior Athletics Championships, sprinting away in the last lap and leaving Zach for dead, also in the 1500m. Jeeva would seem to be the favourite over the longer distances however, but Zach is no slouch himself, having won the B Division crown last year thanks to his devastating sprint finish.
Joining the fray are last year’s B Division silver medallist Aldrich Lim, now representing CJC, reigning A Division 3000m Steeplechase champion Eugene Cyril Rodrigo of Victoria Junior College, as well as surprise packages from the Raffles team, Wilbert Ho and Benjamin Amaldas.
Wilbert was not even included in the Raffles team last year, but popped up from virtually nowhere to win the U-20 category at the SAA meet, finishing the five km course in 17:05. Benjamin finished third in that race, and has improved by leaps and bounds since, finishing again in third place at Wings but just seven seconds behind top schoolboy Jeeva.
Benjamin’s background is an interesting one. From Secondary One to Four, he was in the guitar ensemble. At this point of time last year, he was attending training twice a week and helping to pace the girls team. It was not till June last year that he began to take training seriously. Could the A Division final this year be a story of beginner’s luck?
The A Division team title looks to be a straight fight between Raffles and Hwa Chong Institution, with Raffles coming up tops at both the SAA and Wings meets. They will be gunning for their fourth A Division title in a row, while Hwa Chong looks to reclaim the crown they last won in 2007.
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heard hci has beat ri for the A Div Boys title – any one know what happen?
In 1993, VS was strong favourites for B Div team title. Their rivals were ACS n Chinese High. In the end, Remy Gan of Bartley not only won the individual title but helped Bartley to beat VS by a mere 1 point to win the team title!!
Any one shooting videos tomorrow?
Anyone remember any major upset in the past?
yes – just 2 years ago in fact. 2009 B Division Boys. Sumanthiran Selvarajoo from SJI, who was a complete unknown, won the race ahead of favourites such as Ruben Galen Demetrius, Eugene Rodrigo Cyril, Prakash Arasu and Zachary Devaraj.
hope to see more of such upsets happening
Sumanthiran was no unknown. He won the C div title in 2007. http://redsports.sg/2007/04/22/48th-national-inter-school-cross-country-championships/
But yes, Galen’s loss was a major upset (as seen on television screens repeatedly throughout 2009 when he had turned his head around and allowed Sumanthiran to sneak past him).
I wouldn’t exactly call Sumanthiran a complete unknown. He was, after all, the winner of the C Div race in 2007, and also came in 13th and 9th respectively in 2006 (C Div) and 2008 (B Div).
ehh mohd marican and oonshuikun graduated alr isit? cos they only appeared in racing last year and then disappeared in the blink of an eye lol…
Mahdi marican is rj’s secret weapon this year, don’t be fooled
hmm serious ar…so he will be running tmr? but then the author would have known right since its his alma mater lol…
Oon Shui Kun graduated already.
Anyone knows what happened to T. Haarishankar and Ruben Galen Demetrius? Just 2 years ago, they were the most crushingly dominant duo in B Div. They won everything from 800m to 5000m (along with Zachary Devaraj). I know last year both took part in X-Country but didn’t perform well…were they dropped this year? Or they didn’t go JC? They should be in J1 now…
harrishankar won 2000 steeplechase at national juniors
ohh ic…he what school now? graduate from ssp alr right…
I think, from evidence at SAA X-Country and Wings, the C Div and B Div team champs are quite a foregone conclusion. RI (C Div) and VS (B Div) have been completely dominant. Can’t see anyone seriously challenging them.
This year, the A Div is the one to watch. RI are definitely nowhere near as strong as the last 2 years. HCI, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength under SG’s marathon record holder M. Rameshon. It is worth noting that HCI only lost to RI in SAA X-Country this year because Jeevaneesh was nursing an injury (and finished outside the top 50). If he had been anywhere near his normal form, (ie top 10), HCI would have claimed the title.
Furthermore, RI do not have strength in depth as compared to previous years. While all 6 runners of RI in 2010 finished in the top 20, this year it seems like RI only has 4 runners who can do so. On the other hand, HCI’s backup runners (freeman, joo ern) are almost as fast as their top 4. Thus , if one of RI’s top 4 (wilbert,benjamin,guanlin,yiyan) gets injured or is off form on that day, HCI will be strong favourites to clinch the title.
Will be an extremely interesting race to watch for sure.
Totally agree!! btw, Jeevan was sick on that day.
hi jeevan!
lol, hi rui yong!
watch out for ACSI in A div too! Zachary Devaraj, Ivan and Sean are potential top 10 runners. They are definitely strong contenders for the title.
ACSI’s team has definitely improved tremendously from last year. However, title contenders? Perhaps not quite there yet. Although all their runners are strong, their only top-class runner is Zachary. Both HCI and RI have two runners who are contenders for the individual title (Jeevaneesh and Siheng for HCI, Wilbert and Benjamin for RI). ACSI are dark horses, but no more than that. The title should still be a straight fight between RI and HCI. ACSI should be able to get third place easily though (which would be a 3 place jump from last year’s 6th position). Nothing to be ashamed of here.
Does ACSI have a A Div Girls team?
i would love to see some upset
tay, u r very sharp!
hi tay, u r indeed very sharp to point this out
HCI put in a fierce challenge in the b and c div, losing by 3 points and 5 points respectively, and claiming 2nd for both div. I c and b div were a foregone conclusion.
i wont say* c and b div were a foregone conclusion
Hope someone can enter results live to Chat Corner at Redsports on that day.
watch out for dark horse marc amiruddin(ssp)
agree
marc amiruddin’s problem is that he starts off too fast. same thing with last year’s C Div, he was clearly straining himself to lead the pack. it was no surprise when he dropped out before the end. i think he’s talented and definitely on for a top 10 finish, but looking at how the trio of karthic, marcus and yujie are performing, i don’t think he will be able to cause any major upset.
Watch out for Hwa Chong too in the ‘C’ Division. Their team finish in 2nd position, behind RI, in the SAA Cross-Country. Im thinking they will create a major upset in the National Cross-Country. Juz thinking.
Imran and Shohib of RI are really fast.
they are, bt HCI might juz cause an upset, though chances are low, bt its possible. Juz behind them is a HCI runner in the SAA X-Country. And they’re team finished second overall in the SAA X-Country. its unlikely, bt possible. HCI is probably the only challengers to RI for the C div title.
Are they only Sec 1s?
Huh?? No lah. according to SAA Cross-Country results, 4 Sec 2, 1 Sec 1
mmm…last year their names did not appear anywhere…means they shown great improvement this year
in the end they came out 2nd in the Team category. Both the b and c div. HCI c div lost to RI by a mere 3 points and b div lost to VS by 5 points.
What are the chances of an upset?
it depends, it depends, it really depends.
thanks for the article ruiyong!
no prob.
Hope someone can do a Track n Field similar preview writeup as well. Soh did a great job, well done!
C Div Boys title likely to go to RI. Their top 4 runners are better than VS best runner.
B Div Boys title likely to go to VS. VS top 4 runners are very strong.
A Div Boys – RI seem to take in the best cross-country runners from the secondary schools every year – VS, CHS, SJI besides RI (secondary). Still strong favourites.
true about raffles A boys, but it must be said that for this year, Guan Lin, Ben, Wilbert, Hong En, Yi Yan and Cheng Lu who were their six top performers this year at wings and SAA are ALL rafflesians born and bred. all six joined the school in secondary one.
TRU DAT RUI YONG 😀
I thought only top 3 are better?