Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports
Mark Lee (#143) of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) celebrates after winning the C Division boys’ 100m final. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
National Stadium, Thursday, April 12, 2018 — Last year, he did not even make the 100-metres final. Fast forward a year later at the 59th National Schools Track and Field Championships, Mark Lee of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) finally came of age, blitzing to first place under National Stadium floodlights to seal the C Division boys’ sprint double.
Mark’s winning time of 11.59 seconds bettered his personal best of 11.61s set in the semis, and saw him finish clear ahead of Victoria School duo Reinard Lim (11.96s) and Kieren Lee (12.01s).
“This year I got a new coach, Coach Hamkah (Afik), and he’s really good. He helped me a lot,” said the Secondary 2 student, who earlier in the week had won the 200m in 23.64s.
“I wasn’t really nervous, surprisingly. I had a good reaction to the gun, which was quite rare since I’m a slow starter. When I got to my top speed, I knew I was going to win. But I think I could have held my top speed longer, because I was hoping for a better timing.”
Mark later led ACS(I) to double gold in the relays, bringing his personal tally to four.
Mark’s win also denied a Singapore Sports School (SSP) clean sweep of the boys’ 100m races. Reuben Rainer Lee won the B Division final in 10.91s, while the A Division crown went to his senior Chong Wei Guan who clocked 11.06s.
Reuben’s time ranks him third-fastest in the electronically-timed (ET) B Division all-time list, only behind Raffles Institution alumnus Joshua Chua’s 10.87s two years ago and SSP alumnus Shahrir Anuar’s 10.90s in 2009.
Since ET was introduced in 1995, only five runners have dipped below 11 seconds in the B Division century sprint. Apart from Reuben, Joshua and Shahrir, the rest were St. Andrew’s Secondary alumnus Aaron Huang (10.97s, 1997) and Poh Seng Song (10.99s, 1999), then of ACS(I).
Reuben, just last week, had broken Poh’s long-standing national under-17 mark in the 200m when he ran 21.83s at the 13th South-east Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Bangkok.
It would seem that SSP athletes are well-acquainted with records.
A day before Reuben’s record feat, Wei Guan had clocked 14.13s in the A Division boys’ 110m hurdles final at Choa Chu Kang Stadium, setting a new meet and national under-20 mark.
This time round, a personal record is broken as Wei Guan finished strongly in the 100m to set a new lifetime best of 11.06s.
“I’ve been aiming for a low 11s for a long time,” said the final-year International Baccalaureate (IB) student at SSP.
“I just want to thank my coach, Coach Pedro (Acuna) – he has really been helping me the past few years. To me, this guy is a genius. Every time I feel I’m unfit, he somehow manages to get me back on my feet.”
C Division Boys’ 100m – Top 8
1st Mark Lee Ren (#143, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) — 11.59 seconds
2nd Reinard Lim Jumao-As (#396, Victoria School) — 11.96
3rd Kieren Lee Shen Ee (#388, Victoria School) — 12.01
4th Lim Yu Hng (#281, Bedok View Secondary) — 12.02
5th Jamie El-Redha Ang Bin Norhisham (#99, Singapore Sports School) — 12.06
6th Zaydan Abhiyasa Rahman (#408, Victoria School) — 12.08
7th Roysius Tay Jun Rong (#148, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 12.23
8th Kelvin Siew (#347, Tanjong Katong Secondary) — 12.59
B Division Boys’ 100m – Top 8
1st Reuben Rainer Lee (#143, Singapore Sports School) — 10.91 seconds
2nd Bryan Lam (#531, Hwa Chong Institution) — 11.28
3rd Jeft Tay (#141, Singapore Sports School) — 11.34
4th Mohamed Ishal Zikang (#296, Raffles Institution) — 11.36
5th Justin Toh (#64, Catholic High School) — 11.38
6th Mohamed Haziq B Mohamed Yazli (#146, Singapore Sports School) — 11.49
7th Adam Maximus Anesrif (#412, St. Patrick’s School) — 11.76
8th Chua Chong Sun (#584, NUS High School) — 11.80
A Division Boys’ 100m – Top 8
1st Chong Wei Guan (#45, Singapore Sports School) — 11.06 seconds
2nd Bryan Ng (#307, Hwa Chong Institution) — 11.13
3rd Hong Wen-Kai (#293, Hwa Chong Institution) — 11.14
4th David Tameeris (#75, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 11.28
5th Palaniswamy Tarun Kumar (#41, Serangoon Junior College) — 11.42
5th Jon-Patric De Mello (#109, Catholic Junior College) — 11.42
7th Ho Ann Heng (#30, Innova Junior College) — 11.49
8th Darius Ng (#288, Hwa Chong Institution) — 12.51
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