KUALA TERENGGANU: A final day gold medal surge propelled Selangor to the top of the medal tally and end Sarawak's six-year reign as overall champions of the Malaysian Schools Athletics Championships.
Selangor began Saturday with seven gold medals but doubled their gold medal tally to 14 with Sarawak second on 13.
A record-breaking run by their Under-18 4x400m quartet at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Kuala Terengganu ensured Selangor won the final event of the five-day championships to finish top.
Negri Sembilan's Haiqal Hanafi secured a second gold medal when he won the Under-18 200m final to be named the best athlete overall for boys while the girls' honour went to Sarawak thrower Grace Wong, who added the Under-18 shot put bronze yesterday to gold medals in the hammer and discus.
Under-15 hurdler Aftar Rosli of Kedah took the best athlete award for boys in his category while Terengganu's treble gold medallist Noor Faizatul Nathasha Bakri took the girls' title.
The best athlete awards for the Under-12 boys' and girls' titles went to Sarawak's Audray MacShaquille Henry Jugah and Kedah's Rabiatul Yusra Adenan respectively.
Haiqal erased former Sea Games sprint double gold medallist Nazmizan Muhammad's long-standing Under-18 200m record of 21.62 seconds with a time of 21.59.
That was one of five records set on the final day of competition, taking the total to 17 compared to the 10 records broken last year.
To conclude a dramatic day, Selangor won all three boys' relays on Saturday and secured three records through A. Manissha in the girls' open 2,000m steeplechase, Nurhashima Shahril in the girls' Under-18 shot put and the boys' Under-18 4x400m, the final event of the championships which decided the overall title.
"I'm really happy to get a second gold medal and it has been a long time since the 200m record has fallen," said Haiqal, 17, who also won the 100m and was born a year after Nazmizan set the record in 1998.
"I owe my success to coach Poad. He told me to get a good start and pick up the pace in the last 100 metres. My strength has always been my endurance and I managed to maintain a steady pace from start to finish."
The victories of Manissha and Nurhashima were central in Selangor's emergence as overall champions.
Manissha led from start to finish to erase the steeplechase record of 7:43.16s set by Kedah's Teoh Kim Chyi last year by almost 15 seconds, clocking 7:28.52.
"I came here looking for a gold medal and a record but on the first day I didn't do well in the 3,000m and 5,000m so I'm very happy to do it in this event," said Port Klang's Manissha, who is based at the Bukit Jalil Sports School.
Nurhashima denied Grace a 15th national schools title with a 12.55m heave in the shot put to discard the 10-year-old record of 12.35m held by Siti Nurul Ain Rahim of Negri.
Johnny Ling Siew Hong won the boys' open hammer with a throw of 59.68m to break his senior Jackson Wong Cheun Yong's 2014 record of 57.63m for Sarawak's 13th gold medal.
But with S. Dinesh Verma winning the boys' Under-15 2,000m steeplechase and Nurul Emilia Razi claiming gold in the girls' Under-15 javelin, Selangor trailed Sarawak by two gold medals going into the final six relays races of the evening.
After Selangor won the boys' Under-12 4x200m and Under-15 4x400m finals, Sarawak still led the medal tally with a superior silver count but Selangor's Under-18 quartet then produced a grandstand finish by smashing Terengganu's 2010 record of 3:18.89s by clocking 3:17.48.
Selangor finished with 14 gold, nine silver and eight bronze while Sarawak, who led from the first day until the penultimate event, won 13 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze.
Johor were third on 11-5-17 and followed by Terengganu (9-6-7), Kuala Lumpur (9-5-4) and Sabah (8-18-11).
RESULTS
Boys' Open Hammer: Johnny Ling Siew Hong (Sar) 59.68m (rec), 2 Fabian Sia Sung Siong (Sar) 55.35, 3 Nur Haikal Ridwan Muhammad (NS) 54.88;
Under-18 200m: 1 Haiqal Hanafi (NS) 21.59s (rec), 2 Aidiel Saadon (Mal) 21.89, 3 Ilham Suhaimi (Sel) 22.09;
4x400m: 1 Se
langor 3:17.48s (rec), 2 Terengganu 3:19.11, 3 Johor 3:21.20;
3,000m steeplechase: 1 Devin Roy Vincent (NS) 9:50.58s, 2 S. Poovasanthan (Pah) 9:58.55, 3 Zaqwan Yusof (NS) 10:18.05;
Long jump: 1 Nazri Mustafa (Ked) 6.62m, 2 Alif Luqman Azman (Per) 6.53, 3 Hafizuddin Farhan Zamzam (NS) 6.51;
Under-15 200m: 1 Din Norbik (Sab) 22.49s, 2 Aiman Afik Kamaludin (Kel) 22.89, 3 Haeeqal Sanee (Pen) 23.00;
4x400m: 1 Selangor 3:31.64s, 2 Sabah 3:33.63, 3 Johor 3:35.15;
2,000m steeplechase: 1 S. Dinesh Varma (Sel) 6:40.80s, 2 S. Karti Keyan (NS) 6:41.98, 3 Refson Tirip (Sab) 6:47.96;
Under-12 200m: 1 Zubaidi Buang (KL) 25.11s, 2 Audray MacShaquille Henry Jugah (Sar) 25.25, 3 Azwan Rumi (Sab) 25.30;
4x200m: 1 Selangor 1:43.76s, 2 Sabah 1:43.93, 3 Kedah 1:45.87;
High jump: 1 Amersan Albani (Sab) 1.57m, 2 Rialmat Martinus (Sel) 1.57, 3 Beckham Wong Ren Jie (Joh) 1.53;
Girls Open 2,000m steeplechase: 1 A. Manissha (Sel) 7:28.52s (rec), 2 Ainur Shafiqah Azmi (NS) 7:48.39, 3 A. Sharumatchi (Pen) 7:52.05;
Under-18 200m: 1 Azreen Nabila Alias (Ter) 25.51s, 2 Elice Grenggori (Sab) 26.27, 3 Nur Hafizuhaini Marzuky (Ter) 26.46;
4x400m: 1 Sabah 4:10.03s, 2 Kuala Lumpur 4:12.86, 3 Sarawak 4:13.71;
Shot put: 1 Nurhashima Shahril (Sel) 12.55m (rec), 2 Betty Hoong King Ching (Sar) 12.05, 3 Grace Wong Xiu Mei (Sar) 11.42;
Under-15 200m: 1 Nor Aliyah Ab Rahman (Joh) 25.43s, 2 Puteri Nor Safira Gajali (Sab) 26.49, 3 Dana River Yu Ping Sing (Sar) 26.72;
4x400m: 1 Johor 4:12.68s, 2 Pahang 4:17.89, 3 Sabah 4:19.04;
Javelin: 1 Nurul Emilia Razi (Sel) 33.88m, 2 Lam Ngiik Bing (Sar) 30.05, 3 Nurin Syazwina Sukri (Joh) 29.78;
Under-12 200m: 1 Rabiatul Yusra Adenan (Ked) 27.12s, 2 Nur Syafiqah Ezany Johardi (Pen) 27.87, 3 Nur Anis Ridwana (Ter) 28.34;
4x200m: 1 Penang 1:54.27s, 2 Sarawak 1:54.94, 2 Selangor 1:55.13.