SINGAPORE - It was a day to remember for the Singapore Sports School B Division Boys 4x100m relay team, consisting of Kang Jun Jie, Joel Ho, Edwin Tan and Muhammad Nur Haqim Abu Mansor, all 16.
They went into Wednesday's Schools National Track and Field Championships with one aim-to beat Raffles Institution, their long-standing rivals.
And they did just that in spectacular fashion, coming in first and setting a new meet record of 42.41sec, almost a full second ahead of RI, who finished second in 43.32.
It was a bittersweet moment for the team, who have trained together since Secondary 2, as it was their last race together.
After graduating from Sports School, they will all be going on separate paths-Jun Jie to Republic Poly, Joel will sit for his O levels, Edwin will go on to Secondary 5, and Haqim is undecided.
"They're just like my brothers," said Joel, who also participated in the 100m finals today.
The result was even more surprising for them, as they never expected to beat the record, which had stood at 42.58 for 5 years, set by ACS(I) in 2010.
It is also the first gold medal for Jun Jie, Joel and Edwin, who came in second for their individual events, as well as Haqim's second, adding to his first place finish in the 400m hurdles.
In the A Division Boys 100m finals, Muhammad Haikal Ismail from Millennia Institute came in first with a timing of 11.01sec, a new personal best, edging out RI's Chin Yew Chung (11.18) and ACS(I)'s Timothy Ong Kah Yong (11.27).
The lone representative from MI, the 20-year-old now has two golds, after his win in the 200m finals on Monday, ensuring that MI walk away with a perfect record at this year's Championships.
Haikal added, "It can feel a bit lonely having no teammates around, but I'm glad to all my supporters and my coach, Mr Ang, for all their support."
Another record was set today by Desiree Tan Shi Aun of Cedar Girls Secondary School in the B Division Girls Shot Put finals.
She threw 12.16m, beating the previous record of 11.99, set by Kek Jing Wen of Nanyang Girls High in 2014, who could only throw 11.64 today, coming in third.
