Acton from the senior boys' 5,000m race. Aravind BalaPala: Ernakulam took lead on the opening day of the 61st State School Athletics Meet here on Friday. They have registered 50 points, pushing defending champions Palakkad (37) to the second spot. Thiruvananthapuram are in third position with 27 points followed by Kozhikode (24).
The first-day action witnessed two national record-breaking performances in addition to three meet records.
P. N. Ajith of Parli Higher Secondary School clinched the senior boys' 5,000m gold with a new national record of 14:48.40 seconds.
Ajith, who won silver in the national school meet, led from the start to come up trumps. He is coached by P. Manoj.
Adarsh Bobby of Mar Basil, Kothamangalam, came second.
Anumol Thampi of Mar Basil Higher Secondary School, Kothamangalam, broke the national record in the senior girls' 3,000m race. She won the gold in 9:50.89 and bettered the mark of 9:55.62 set by Kerala's Shameena Jabbar in 2006.
Abhishek Mathew of Mar Basil clinched the junior boys' 400m gold with a new mark of 48:88 seconds. Yadav Naresh Kripal (Mar Basil HSS) produced a throw of 61.66m in the junior boys' javelin throw to set another meet record. Srikanth K.M. of Government VHHS, Maneed, also set a new mark of 7.05m in junior boys' long jump. All three meet record breakers represent Ernakulam.
Eighteen finals were completed on the opening day.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the meet in the evening.
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