By Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck, Soh Jun Wei, Clara Yuan and Laura Lee/Red Sports

55th National Inter-School Cross Country Championships

RI’s Shohib was the individual champion with a timing of 14:02.8. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)

Bedok Reservoir Park, Tuesday, March 25, 2014 — Shohib Marican of Raffles Institution (RI) finished 15 seconds ahead of teammate Heng Yu Jie to win the A Division title at the 55th National Schools Cross Country Championships.

Leroi Lee of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, last year’s B Division boys’ champion, led for most of the 4.3km race, until Shohib overtook him in the final 500 metres. While racing against Yu Jie for the silver medal, Leroi accidentally tripped over the barricades at about 100 metres away from the finishing line. He recovered to take fourth place in 14:24 — a time that paled in comparison to the 14:05 he clocked on the same course en route to his win last year — with Marcus Ng of Victoria Junior College (VJC) pipping Leroi to the bronze in 14:19.

Mary-Lisa Chua of RI won the girls’ division and RI also won both the boys’ and girls’ team titles.

For Heng Yu Jie, formerly of Catholic High, this latest result ensured he never finished off the podium across all three divisions at the National Schools Cross Country Championships. Despite finishing runner-up for a second consecutive time in the A Division, Yu Jie’s sterling finishing record over the years since 2009 — 3rd-2nd-3rd-1st-2nd-2nd — put him up alongside the most dominant cross country runners of the noughties (2000-2009).

“Leroi was leading the whole race, but we just maintained our pace,” said Yu Jie.

“During the first part, I found the pace was a bit too fast. Then I just kept to Yu Jie’s pace,” said Marcus.

In the team event, with the 1-2 finish by Shohib and Yu Jie, Raffles Institution’s third and fourth runners — Lim Jia De and Joshua Nga — ensured their team’s win by finishing fifth and sixth respectively for a total of 14 points.

VJC and Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) claimed the silver and bronze with scores of 33 and 51 points respectively.

In the girls’ race, Mary-Lisa won with a personal best time of 14:21 over the 3.6km course, improving on eighth position last year. Her team-mate, Denise Chia, finished second for another 1-2 finish for RI.

Melanie Bickham of Catholic Junior College finished third in the race with a time of 14:31. She said, “Initially, I was depressed. I thought that these people were really fast. However, I recalled my training and sprinted during the last stretch.”

In the team event, placing all their runners in the top 10, Raffles Institution won with 16 points with a 1-2-4-9 finish. VJC were a distant second with 43 points while HCI were third with 62 points.

A winning streak was preserved with Shohib and Mary-Lisa crossing the line first in their individual A Division races, and Raffles winning the respective team titles.

The last six Rafflesian girls who have finished first in the A Division have now gone on to win the team title, while the last five male individual A Division champions from RI/RJC have claimed team honours too.

A Division Boys – 4.3km (Top 20)
1st Shohib B Abdul Wahab Marican (#1062, Raffles Institution) — 14:02.8
2nd Heng Yu Jie (#1058, Raffles Institution) — 14:17.2
3rd Marcus Ng (#1085, Victoria Junior College) –14:19.9
4th Leroi Lee (#1092, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 14:24.2
5th Lim Jia De (#1059, Raffles Institution) — 14:28.4
6th Joshua Nga (#1060, Raffles Institution) — 14:33.2
7th Edward Lee (#1086, Victoria Junior College) — 14:49.2
8th Joel Ng (#1100, Hwa Chong Institution) — 14:50.6
9th Larry Law (#1065, Raffles Institution) — 14:53.5
10th Paxton Hong (#1087, Victoria Junior College) — 14:59.0
11th Tan Yu Chuan (#1101, Hwa Chong Institution) – 15:00.6
12th Ng Guan Zhi (#1104, Hwa Chong Institution) — 15:02.5
13th Tang Chung Theng (#1084, Victoria Junior College) — 15:04.6
14th Darrion Mohan (#1061, Raffles Institution) — 15:05.5
15th Robertus Reonaldy Lawantara (#1093, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 15:08.0
16th Shawn Lin (#1094, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 15:08.3
17th Justin Eu (#1038, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 15:11.6
18th Kavinkumar S/O Shan Mugam (#1089, Victoria Junior College) — 15:16.8
19th Nishan S/O Guna Sakaran (#1041, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 15:20.0
20th Dai Nan Tian (#1106, Hwa Chong Instituition) — 15:20.7

A Division Girls – 3.6km (Top 20)
1st Mary-Lisa Zhi-Hui Chua (#2047, Raffles Institution) — 14:21.2
2nd Chia Su Yin Denise (#2051, Raffles Institution) — 14:28.6
3rd Melanie Anne Hui Fen Bickham (#2034, Catholic Junior College) –14:31.3
4th Adeline Bee Wei Ting (#2046, Raffles Institution) — 14:33.0
5th Lok Xin Ying (#2071, Victoria Junior College) — 14:34.2
6th Ng Xin Yi (#2032, Catholic Junior College) — 14:34.3
7th Tan Hui Xin (#2074, Victoria Junior College) — 14:34.4
8th Lim Jia Qi (#2044, National Junior College) — 14:38.4
9th Wong Shiying (#2050, Raffles Institution) — 14:38.7
10th Tiffany Tan Ge Ru (#2094, Hwa Chong Institution) — 14:39.3
11th Tan Yi-Qin, Edina (#2049, Raffles Institution) – 14:41.4
12th Lin Yuxin, Kathleen (#2090, Hwa Chong Institution) — 14:43.5
13th Sarah Xing Huiwen (#2111, River Valley High School) — 14:45.4
14th Abigail Sim E Xuan (#2073, Victoria Junior College) — 14:47.9
15th Hor Kar Yin Carys (#2089, Hwa Chong Institution) — 14:48.9
16th Thaddea Chua Yun Fang (#2109, River Valley High School) — 14:51.5
17th Lee Yuet Zhen (#2072, Victoria Junior College) — 14:58.2
18th Rachel Tan Kheng Kee (#2082, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 15:18.9
19th Sim Dan Min, Dominique (#2081, Anglo-Chinese Junior College) — 15:21.5
20th Chia Daphne Theresa Yun Shan (#2048, Raffles Instituition) — 15:28.7

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