Kochi: Kerala clinched the national schools athletics title for 17th consecutive term with a convincing haul of 38 gold medals at the Birsa Munda stadium in Ranchi on Sunday.
The champions had put up an improved show from their title wining performance in Etawah last year when the loot was 37 gold medals. Haryana came a distant second with just 11 gold medals.
The final day of the meet saw a couple of outstanding individual and team efforts and it was P. U. Chithra who was outstanding. The Mundur girl completed her fourth gold by winning the cross-country race.
Another Palakkad girl V. V. Jisha bagged her triple and it was double delight for jumpers Rugma Udhayan and Suhail P. V.
The Kerala team also won three relay races and one of it came in record time. The Under-17 girls were clocked at 48.71 seconds that broke a 11-yea-old time of 48.8 held by their state seniors. Two more relays; the 4X100 in the girls U-14 and 4X400 in Under-19 girls, were won by Kerala.
Selected results
Under-19 boys triple jump: 1. Suhail P. V., Ker, 14.88 m; 2. Abin B., Ker, 14.69; 3. Karthik B., Kar, 14.47
4x400m relay: 1. Kerala, 3:20.18 min; 2. Haryana, 3:24.39; Delhi, 3:24.43
Under-14 4x100 relay: 1. Kerala, 52.5 sec; 2. West Bengal, 52.62; 3. Maharashtra, 53.79
Under-17 girls 200m: 1. Jisna Mathew, Ker, 25.09 sec; 2. Shaharbana Sidhique, Ker, 25.55; 3. Swapnil Ahmed, Har, 26.05
800m: 1. Babitha C., Ker, 2:14.03 min; 2. Durga D. Mah, 2:15.62; 3. Archana C. B., Ker, 2:20.79
Triple jump: 1. Rugma Udhayan, Ker, 11.85 m; 2. Bhuvneshwari Nishad, Chhattisgarh, 11.59; 3. Asha Patil, Mah, 11.47
4X100m relay: 1. Kerala, 48.71 sec; 2. Maharashtra, 48.76; 3. TN, 51.35
Under-19 girls 200m: 1. Jisha V. V., Ker, 25.07 sec; 2. Vijayakumari G. K., Kar, 25.52; 3. Manvir Kaur, Pun, 25.84
800m: 1. Jessy Joseph, Ker, 2:11.19 min; 2. Therese Joseph, Ker, 2:12.82; 3. Sayli Waghmare, Mah, 2:15.98
400m hurdles: 1. Jisha V. V., Ker, 1:4.32 min; 2. H. Kavya, AP, 1:4.85; 3. Anjali Jose, Ker, 1:4.95
Pole Vault: 1. Shani Shaji, Ker, 3.20 m; 2. Gopika Narayanan, Ker, 3; 3. Pavithra, Kar, 2.50
4X400m relay: 1. Kerala, 3:57.77 min; 2. Karnataka, 4:4.0; 3. Maharashtra, 4:7.71
