Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) strengthened their prospects of a clean sweep of four overall titles on the penultimate day of the National School Track and Field Championships.

They finished with three gold, three silver and three bronze from yesterday's 19 finals at the Bishan Stadium to stretch their leads across the various divisions.

HCI, who have won 16 golds in total, are leading the A Division boys' category with 180 points, 47 clear of Raffles Institution (RI) and are also leading the A Division girls' category on 134 points, 20 more than Victoria Junior College. In the B Division boys' category, HCI have 150 points, ahead of RI (124 points) and lead the C Division with 157 points, 71 more than RI.

HCI (College) track and field teacher-in-charge Lee Cheng Wei said: "We have been performing way better than expected and we have been fighting very well."

The A Division boys' steeplechase offered evidence of HCI's dominance. Fang Ying Yang won in 10min 40.11sec, followed by school-mates Ivan Song (10:45.15sec) and Er Wen Han (10:48.06sec). All are 17.

Ying Yang had won this event last year in the B Division but said the latest win was memorable as it was "a special feeling seeing my team-mates finishing behind me to complete the podium sweep."

His team captain Randall Choo, 18, clocked 57.57sec to win the A Division 400m hurdles ahead of RI's Isaac Toh (58.81sec) and Loh Yuan Yee (59.32sec) of Anglo-Chinese Junior College.

HCI's Damien Koh won the same event in the C Division in 1:02.19, clear of National Junior College's Ken Hayashi (1:02.54) and RI's Ho Zhe Xi (1:03.19).

Despite their commanding lead, no one from HCI was at all complacent.

RI's Matz Chan, who won the B Division boys' 400m hurdles, said: "The points difference may be large but what's important is executing what we trained (for) and not giving up."

The final day is on Friday at the Singapore Sports Hub, in conjunction with the Singapore Open.