Cedar Girls' Secondary School drew a rare blank yesterday as they failed to win a gold medal on the final day of the Schools National Track and Field Championships but still had plenty to celebrate as they bagged both the B and C Division overall titles.

Their B Division team retained their crown and finished with 144 points, ahead of Singapore Sports School (119) and Nanyang Girls' High School's (NYGH) total of 103.

The battle for the C Division title was a much closer affair as Cedar finished with 163 points to deny NYGH (157) back-to-back championships. CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School were third with 87 points.

Cedar's overall captain Hasya Nazihah said: "A lot of us faced difficulties this season. It was one of the toughest seasons that we went through."

The Secondary 4 student added: "Some of them (team-mates) got demoralised quite easily. But the support pushed all of us to our limits this season."

Cedar's teacher-in-charge Chue Weng Fai said the team had fancied their chances in the B Division but winning the C Division title was a pleasant surprise.

Another track and field heavyweight, Hwa Chong Institution (HCI), may have only won one - the A girls' 800m - of yesterday's 23 finals at the National Stadium but had the last laugh.

They raced to a clean sweep of titles in the boys' A , B and C Divisions and also secured the overall A girls' title.

HCI's teacher-in-charge Lee Cheng Wei pointed out that the team's confidence played a big part in their dominant showing.

He said: "If they didn't have the belief, I don't think we would have lasted all the way until today.

"Especially the team championships, the whole team has to come together and believe."