Story by Cara Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Stefanus Ian and Eileen Chew/Red Sports.

Melissa Yee of Republic Polytechnic threw a personal best of 40.04m to win the 2018 IVP gold medal for discus. She also won the 2018 IVP gold medal for shot put. (Photo 1 © Stefanus Ian/Red Sports)

Melissa Yee of Republic Polytechnic threw a personal best of 40.04m to win the 2018 IVP gold medal for discus. She also won the 2018 IVP gold medal for shot put. (Photo 1 © Stefanus Ian/Red Sports)

Bishan Stadium, Saturday, January 20, 2018 — Thrower Melissa Yee struck gold again on the last day of the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) track and field competition with a second gold medal and new personal best in discus throw, while National University of Singapore (NUS) had a clean sweep of the overall titles for the fourth year running.

Melissa, a Republic Polytechnic student, won with a throw distance of 40.04m. This is three metres better than her old record and is her second PB this season. The first was for shot put on January 13.

It was an unexpected bonus for the Republic Polytechnic student, who credited her stellar performance to a new coach and teammates.

“Now that I have training partners, I feel more motivated to do the workouts and all, because I look forward to the fun and laughter that we have in training. It’s not so serious all the time,” said Melissa, who started training under throws coach Ron Koh late last November.

Melissa also set a new personal record of 12.48m for shot put on the first day of IVP, despite competing in Adidas Stan Smith sneakers instead of her usual throwing shoes.

“I actually had a dream about forgetting them again last night, so I remembered to bring them today,” said Melissa with a laugh, adding that she forgot her javelin spikes instead before a friend brought it to her later.

Another big winner of the day was NUS athlete Brian See, who wrote himself into the record books with an IVP record-breaking throw of 13.98m for the men’s shot put event.

He is part of a new crop of talent from NUS that helped the school sweep up most of the top spots. NUS emerged the champion for the men’s, women’s and overall categories.

The new championship record came as a surprise for Brian, who lost out on the discus throw title to Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Julian Rapet on the first day of IVP.

“I wasn’t expecting much going into the competition, I knew the record was within reach but I had no expectations as I trained more for discus,” said the gold medallist.

“Breaking the record at my first IVP is really special and I hope I can improve this mark with every subsequent IVP,” he added.

IVP newcomers and NUS athletes Raymond Lee and Zachary Ryan Devaraj also brought home more IVP gold medals on the final day. Raymond clinched the 200m title in 22.49s, and Zachary went home with the 800m title, clocking in at 1:59:78.

The usual crowd favourites, however, also put up a good fight for their schools.

Singapore Institute of Management’s Nabin Parajuli smashed the 3000m steeplechase championship record with a timing of 9:37.65s, earning him his first gold of the season. The mid-distance runner had previously come in second for the men’s 10000m and 5000m.

Over at the sand pit, jumper Ang Wei Lu of Singapore Polytechnic defended her title in long jump with a winning effort and a new PB of 5.39m. This makes her the returning champion for both long and triple jump, having won the latter on the first day of IVP.

It was a good day for jumper Hairul Syamil Bin Mardan of Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) too after he scored the gold for high jump with a jump height of 2.02m, a new PB for him. He later attempted to break his coach Ronnie Cai’s IVP record of 2.04m, but a lightning alert foiled his plans.

In the overall title points race, NUS was far ahead of the crowd with a total score of 392. NTU edged out NYP to come in second with 204 points to NYP’s 193.

For the men’s division, NUS was the clear winner with 220 points. NTU’s men’s team (140) was second overall, while NYP (90) was third.

In the women’s overall category, NUS won with 172 points. NYP and SMU were second and third with 103 and 91 points respectively.

Results:
Overall Men’s:
1st: National University of Singapore – 220
2nd: Nanyang Technological University – 140
3rd: Nanyang Polytechnic – 90

Overall Women’s:
1st: National University of Singapore – 172
2nd: Nanyang Polytechnic – 103
3rd: Singapore Management University – 91

Women’s Discus Throw
1st: Melissa Yee (Republic Polytechnic) – 40.04m
2nd:Kek Jing Wen (Ngee Ann Polytechnic) – 34.39m
3rd: Nicole Heng (National University of Singapore) – 33.53m

Women’s Long Jump
1st: Ang Wei Lu (Singapore Polytechnic) – 5.39m
2nd: Lynette Lim (Nanyang Technological University) – 5.12m
3rd: Valerie Cheong (Singapore Management University) – 4.67m

Men’s High Jump
1st: Hairul Syamil Bin Mardan (Nanyang Polytechnic) – 2.02m
2nd: Ryan Teo (Republic Polytechnic) – 1.96m
3rd: Samuel Lim (National University of Singapore) – 1.90m

Women’s 400m Hurdles
1st: Sharlene Teo (National University of Singapore) – 1:11.47
2nd: Ng Jia Yi (Temasek Polytechnic) – 1:13.06
3rd: Kang Pei Ling (Republic Polytechnic) – 1:16.04

Men’s 400m Hurdles
1st: Shawn Jong (Ngee Ann Polytechnic) – 59.66s
2nd: Silas Ng (Nanyang Polytechnic) – 1:02.04
3rd: Muhammad Hafizul Hakim Bin Misnal (Temasek Polytechnic) – 1:02.09

Women’s 200m
1st: Shanti Pereira (Singapore Management University) – 24.95s
2nd: Smriti Menon (National University of Singapore) – 25.94s
3rd: Clara Goh Si Hui (Temasek Polytechnic) – 26.27s

Men’s 200m
1st: Raymond Lee (National University of Singapore) – 22.49s
2nd: Alex Rodney Koh (Temasek Polytechnic) – 22.57s
3rd: Nicholas Lye (Nanyang Technological University) – 22.65s

Women’s 800m
1st: Natalie Soh Hann (National University of Singapore) – 2:33.91
2nd: Chua, Zhi-Hui Mary-Lisa (Singapore Management University) – 2:36.20
3rd: Cherry Kam Zhi Yu (Nanyang Polytechnic) – 2:36.21

Men’s 800m
1st: Zachary Ryan Deveraj (National University of Singapore) – 1:59.78
2nd: Jasper Tan (Nanyang Technological University) – 2:03.15
3rd: Tok Yin Pin (National University of Singapore) – 2:03.78

Women’s Javelin Throw
1st: Chiu Jing Wen (National University of Singapore) – 36.87m
2nd: Maya Shanmugaratnam (National University of Singapore) – 35.56m
3rd: Hannah Tan Shu-En (Nanyang Polytechnic) – 25.94m

Men’s Long Jump
1st: Shaun Moh (National University of Singapore) – 6.79m
2nd: Joseph Zhao (National University of Singapore) – 6.49m
3rd: Lee Chin Teck Darren (Ngee Ann Polytechnic) – 6.43m

Men’s Shot Put
1st: Brian See (National University of Singapore) – 13.98m (Championship record)
2nd: Bryan Koh (National University of Singapore) – 13.09m
3rd: Julien Rapert (Nanyang Technological University) – 13.01m

Women’s 3000m Steeplechase (exhibition event)
1st: Lok, Xin Ying (National University of Singapore) – 13:14.26 (Championship record)
2nd: Cheryl Wong (Republic Polytechnic) – 14:48.09
3rd: Rachel Hew (Nanyang Technological University) – 14:49.15

Men’s 3000m Steeplechase
1st: Nabin Parajuli (Singapore Institute of Management) – 9:37.65 (Championship record)
2nd: Chew Xiu Zheng (National University of Singapore) – 10:33.04
3rd: August Lim (Singapore Polytechnic) – 10:56.33

Women’s 3000m Race Walk (exhibition event)
1st Cheng Ning (Singapore Institute of Management) – 22:28.79
2nd: Priscilla Mun Li Jun (National University of Singapore) -22:52.39
3rd: Lee An Qi (Singapore Institute of Management) – 29:29.11

Men’s 3000m Race Walk (exhibition event)
1st: Nathanael Wong (Nanyang Technological University) – 16:23.85 (Championship record)
2nd: Ng Yao Xuan (National University of Singapore) – 16:30.45
3rd: Ho, Sheng Yi (Nanyang Technological University) – 18:27.21

Women’s 4x400m
1st: National University of Singapore – 4:24.52
2nd: Nanyang Polytechnic – 4:29.59
3rd: Nanyang Technological University- 4:39.87

Men’s 4x400m
1st: National University of Singapore – 3:25.04
2nd: Nanyang Technological University – 3:29.52
3rd: Temasek Polytechnic – 3:31.55

Women’s 4x100m
1st: National University of Singapore – 51.48
2nd: Nanyang Polytechnic – 52.44
3rd: Nanyang Technological University – 53.97

Men’s 4x100m
1st: Nanyang Technological University – 42.93
2nd: Temasek Polytechnic – 43.38
3rd: National University of Singapore – 44.15