Kochi: Kerala virtually went on a gold hunt on the penultimate day of the 59th national schools athletics, racking up 10 firsts, three of which broke meet records at Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi on Saturday.
The defending champions asserted its supremacy on the track and clinching the 4x100 m relay gold in both boys and girls races in U-19 category was just the perfect way to edge closer to a 17th consecutive title.
High jumper Sreenith Mohan and sprinters M.N. Nasimudheen and Dibi Sebastian set meet records and Kerala has amassed 25 gold medallions from four days of competition.
Nasimudheen who was pushed to second place in 100 m hit back with a decent run in the 100 m hurdles. He pipped teammate Maymon Paulose to take gold on 14.37 seconds that also broke his own record time of 14.89 seconds from last year.
The talented Dibi Sebastian made good use of the stiff competition from her teammate Sangeetha and Delhi girl Shivangi Rawat to set a new meet record. It was Soumya Varghese’s 14.94 from last year that was broken by Dibi’s 14.59.
Meanwhile, the sensational Sreenith Mohan, who was clearly not at his best, but did manage to break Karnataka lad Harshith’s 2.10 m from 2011 by 1 cm.
Selected Results:
Under-19 boys 100 m: 1. Nasimudheen M. N., Ker, 14.37 sec; 2. Maymon Paulose, Ker, 14.58; 3. V. Akash, TN, 15.3
High Jump: 1. Sreenith Mohan, Ker, 2.11 m; 2. Asesh Roy, WB, 1.95; 3. Durga Charan, Jharkhand, 1.90
Pole Vault: 1. Anas Babu, Ker, 4.40 m; 2. Kunwar Gyanendra Singh, UP, 4.20; 3. Nitheesh A. O., Ker, 4.10
4X100 m relay: 1. Kerala, 42.89 sec; 2. Karnataka, 43.12; 3. TN, 43.44
Under-14 girls 80mH: 1. Aparna Roy, Ker, 12.87 sec; 2. Manasi Parvatkar, Mah, 12.88; 3. Priyanka Shenoy, Mah, 13.12
Under-17 girls 100mH: 1. Dibi Sebastian, Ker, 14.59 sec; 2. Shivangi Rawat, Del, 14.99; 3. Sangeetha N. P., Ker, 15.05
Long Jump: 1. Rugma Udhayan, Ker, 5.32 m; 2. Monika, Har, 5.18; 3. Bhuvneshwari Nishad, Chhattisgarh, 5.18
Under-19 girls 5000m: 1. Chithra P. U., Ker, 17:51.52 min; 2. Varsha M. V., Ker, 18:17.44; 3. Supriya Pramanick, WB, 19:14.64
Triple Jump: 1. Athira Surendran, Ker, 12.44 m; 2. Jenimol Joy, Ker, 12.40; 3. Anusha Poojary, Kar, 11.54
4X100 m relay: 1. Kerala, 49.45 sec; 2. Karnataka, 50.17; 3. WB, 50.83.
