Lim Yu Zhe sat and he sat and he sat, content to let the others set the pace in the C boys 1500-metre race at the 58th National Schools Track and Field Championships. But his agonising 0.06 second loss to Raffles Institution's Sean Tay in the 3000-metre last week was perhaps still fresh in his mind and he didn't want to make the same mistake again of making his move too late.
Jerrell finished the B boys 2000 metres steeplechase ahead of the three people who have recently outran him, including Singapore Sports School's Rohan D'Costa. Hwa Chong Institution's Fang Yiyang, Ivan Song and Er Wen Han finished 1-2-3 in the A boys 3000 meters steeplechase, while Victoria Junior College's Phoebe Kee won the A girls 2000 metres steeplechase to complete a hat-trick of distance titles.
Damian's smooth execution in the final stretch helped him overhaul the fast tiring Ken Hayashi from National Junior College in the final 50 metres, who could only watch on helplessly, unable to summon any more energy in his legs after having powered through the first 200 metres and led for most of the race.
After a stunning leap in the long jump Friday that ranked her the fifth-best female Singaporean, Dunman High School's Lim En Ning doubled her gold medal haul at the 58th National Schools Track and Field Championships with a personal best in the high jump.
In crossing the line first in a time of 5 minutes 11.85 seconds, Vera also denied Elizabeth Liau of CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School a hat-trick of distance titles. Elizabeth, the national schools cross country champion who had also earlier won the 3000m, finished third in the 1500m in a time of 5:20.75. Nan Hua High School's Clarice Lau claimed the silver with 5:16.67.
Reuben dominated the field, scoring a relative straightforward win in 22.41 seconds, though still some way off ex-national sprinter Poh Seng Song's divisional record at 21.88s that was set in 1999. Grace earned RGS its first gold medal of this year's championships, after she outran Reuben's schoolmate Diane Pragasam.
En Ning's remarkable effort bettered Tia Rozario's national schools record of 5.66m, which was just set two weeks ago when she won the A division title for the Singapore Sports School. Before Friday, Tia also owned all three divisional long jump records. En Ning now owns two: the B girls and national schools.
For a moment, things looked quite bleak for Hwa Chong Institution's Ethan Cheong. Partly due to a poor choice of poles, he failed at the first two attempts at his opening height. It was not the way he wanted to round off his six-year journey as a schoolboy pole vaulter.
