SMK Tabuan Jaya stamp monopoly with 10th title
KUCHING: SMK Tabuan Jaya continued with their reign in the 53rd MSSM Kuching Track and Field Championship when they amassed 596 points to top the 52team annual competition held at Sarawak Stadium in Petra Jaya on Thursday.
The state sports school captured 35 gold, 19 silver and 15 bronze medals in a three- day pillar-topost race from March 6-9, making a near-clean sweep of the titles in the Boys’ Under-18, Under-15 and Under-14 as well as the Girls’ Under15 and Under-14 categories.
Only SMK Lundu prevented the clean sweep by taking the Girls’ Under- 18 title with 114 points compared to 83 points by SMK Tabuan Jaya. SMK Tabuan Jaya earned more honours when four of their athletes also won the Best Athlete awards.
Omega Nexsen shone the brightest with two gold and one silver medals and two new records, clearing 6.19m ( 6.13m) in the Boys’ U15 long jump and 12.95m (12.79m) in the triple jump. Brolyn Joel Numpang Holland also broke the Boys’ U18 long jump with a distance of 6.61m ( 6.44m) to win gold and was second in the triple
I would like to congratulate all the athletes and coaches as well as the parents who have contributed to our success again this year.
jump with 13.13m.
Eppeis Jeremy walked away with the Best Girl Athlete award in the Girls’ U14 category after she won the gold in the 200m and 400m while Vanessa Payak Ubau was the Best Girl Athlete in the Girls’ U15 where she bagged the gold medals in the long jump and triple jump.
Other best athletes were SMK Santubong’s Mohammad Ismandi who captured golds in the Boys’ U14 1,500m and 2,000m steeplechase and Mandy Goh Li of SMK Sungai Maong who cracked the Girls’ U18 100m record with a new time of 12.58s (12.70s) and also won golds in the long jump and 400m hurdle.
“I would like to congratulate all the athletes and coaches as well as the parents who have contributed to our success again this year,” said SMK Tabuan Jaya head coach Rasia Lutang.
She al s o re c o r d e d he r appreciation to the principal Edward Ngelai, senior assistant (co-curriculum) Abdul Rashid and teachers Belum Saran (coach) and Waty Tagong (chaperon) for their unwavering support.
“I am thrilled to bits we retained the title again and certainly all the hard work and sacrifices have paid off,” added Rasia.
According to her, SMK Tabuan Jaya had been the overal l champions in MSSM Kuching Track and Field Championship since she first joined the school in 2004. The only exception was in 2007 where they lost to SMK Lundu.
Meanwhi l e , SMK Lundu retained their top three ranking when they finished second with 20 gold, 7 silvers and 11 bronzes for 412 points while coming in third were SMK Sematan with 12 silvers and 14 bronzes for 290 points. SMK Santubong were fourth on 197 points (7- 6- 4) and SMK Batu Lintang finished fifth with 155 points (1- 5-7).
The sixth to 10th positions were occupied by SMS St Joseph (154.5), SMK Bau (124), SMK Paku (124), SMK Tun Abdul Razak (116) and
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
SMK Tabuan Jaya SMK Lundu SMK Sematan SMK Santubong SMK Batu Lintang SMS St Joseph SMK Bau SMK Paku SMK Tun Abdul Razak SMK Sungai Maong
G
35 20 0 7 1 3 4 0 1 8
SB Pts
19 15 596 7 11 412 12 14 290 6 4 197 5 7 155 4 4 154.5 3 5 124 7 4 124 3 5 116 1 3 106
Rasia Lutang, SMK Tabuan Jaya head coach
SMK Sungai Maong (106).
Seven new records were created during the championship which was jointly organised by the District Education Departments of Kuching, Padawan, Bau and Lundu.
At the end of the meet, the names of 142 athletes including 66 girls were announced to represent Kuching in the MSS Sarawak Track and Field Championship which will also be staged at the Sarawak Stadium from March 29 to April 1.
Deputy Kuching District Education Officer Chen Fei Ming, who represented Kuching District Education Officer Kamariah Said, closed the meet and gave away the prizes.