By Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports

B Division boys' 4x400m relay

Marcell Tan (#157) of Singapore Sports School runs the anchor leg of the B Division boys’ 4x400m relay final. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)

Singapore Sports School, Friday, April 24, 2015 — Singapore Sports School’s quartet of Marcell Tan (#157), Muhammad Nur Haqim (#160), Shahrieza Norzaha (#162) and Shawn Jong (#163) covered the B Division boys’ 4x400m relay race in a timing of 3 minutes and 28.76 seconds to top the field at the 56th National Inter-School Track and Field Championships.

The four, who were running together for the first time in the Championships, had earlier clocked a timing of 3:38.08 in the heats to qualify as the fifth-fastest team.

Shahrieza (#162) overtook Raffles Institution’s (RI) Ryan James Tan (#301) 200m into the second lap to take the lead, and they held on for the first-place finish.

“Personally, for me and Shahrieza, it’s our last race together for the school and we wanted to give the school something special,” said Nur Haqim, who was the third runner for the Singapore Sports School.

“We are really grateful for the win,” added Tan, who anchored the race. “Actually, we weren’t expecting to finish first, because we’re not the top few runners in the 400 metres.”

RI were forced to settle for the silver medal, finishing just 1.66 seconds behind in 3:30.42. Catholic High finished just 0.55 seconds after for the bronze.

Singapore Sports School’s victory also won them the B Division boys’ challenge trophy with a total point tally of 140. Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution finished second and third respectively with 132 and 129 points respectively.

“At first, we didn’t expect to be this close to winning the title,” said Shahrieza. “As the final day drew closer, we just gave it our best shot and thankfully, we won it!”

Jong added, “Running on home ground gave us a lot more motivation and we really gave our best. It helped that our schoolmates were around to support us.”

B Division Boys’ 4x400m Relay Results
1st: Singapore Sports School – 3:28.76
2nd: Raffles Institution – 3:30.42
3rd: Catholic High School – 3:30.97
4th: Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) – 3:31.72
5th: Hwa Chong Institution – 3:33.19
6th: Victoria School – 3:36.29
7th: St. Joseph’s Institution – 3:39.76
8th: Junyuan Secondary – 3:50.73

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