THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Underscoring their significance once again as the athletics nerve centre of the state, Ernakulam district bagged the overall title in the 62nd Kerala State Schools Athletics Championships that concluded on Sunday.
This is the 13th time Ernakulam are winning the title and this time they did it in style, amassing 253 points that came from 30 gold, 26 silver and 20 bronze medals. Last year’s runners-up Palakkad maintained status quo with 196 points, while Thiruvananthapuram came a distant third with 101 points.
Buoyed by two powerhouses from Kothamangalam - St George’s HSS and Mar Basil HSS - Ernakulam were fancied to retain the title and they did not upset expectations.
Their juggernaut was powered by St George’s HSS, the eventual individual champion school with 81 points. St George’s ascension came after four years and it was a parting gift for their coach Raju Paul, who will be retiring this year.
St George’s bagged 81 points en route to success and their medal basket had 10 gold, nine silver and six bronze medals. Kalladi HS Kumaramputhur again emerged runners-up with 62 points. Reigning champions Mar Basil failed to pose any challenge to their arch-rivals St George and had to be contended with third place with 50 points.
The final day witnessed three meet records of which two were national record-bettering performances. Akhil Kumar C D of HS, Mundur registered 15.42m in senior boys triple jump to obliterate the national mark of 15.09m. Jishna M of Kalladi HS penned history in the senior girls’ high jump by clearing 1.73m. The national mark stood at 1.69m. The third meet record came via Chingis Khan of St George’s HSS, Kothamangalam, in sub-junior boys’ 600m. The Manipuri boy clocked 1:25.06 sec. The total number of meet records rose to five.
Sprint double for Abhinav, Ancy
Abhinav C (SAI, Thiruvananthapuram) and Ancy Sojan (Govt Fisheries School HSS, Nattika) completed sprint double winning 200m races in style. The duo had won their 100m races the other day.
Abhinav stopped the clock at 22.10s to pip his team mate Bijith K to second spot, while Ancy bossed nemesis Aparna Roy of Kozhikode clocking 25.48s. Roy finished at 25.86.
Triple gold for three
Three athletes have completed golden treble in this edition of the meet. Chingis Khan (200m, 400m and 600m) in the sub-junior boys category, Adarsh Gopi of Mar Basil HSS, Kothamangalam (800m, 1,500m and 3,000m) in the senior boys category and Sandra A S of Sacred Heart HSS, Thevara (100m, 200m and 400m) in the junior girls were those who reached the milestone.