A total of eight athletes from Ehlanzeni won medals during the three national athletics championships that were held around the country recently.
Local athletes have been hard at work and grinding out result after result for the past eight months since the start of the athletics season last year. This season always culminates in the three national athletics championships that primary, high school and U23 athletes can take part in.
The first of the three was the SA Schools Athletics (SASA) Primary Schools National Championships which were held in Germiston from March 20 to 22.
Mpumalanga’s budding athletics stars shone bright here, raking in a total of 11 medals. Laerskool Nelspruit learner and athlete Alizé Engelbrecht was one of two to win multiple medals, and was the most successful Mpumalangan. Alizé finished the 75m hurdles in 11.78sec and the 150m hurdles in 22.27sec to claim two silver medals in the U12 age group.
Next in line was the Athletics SA (ASA) Age Group Championships in which the cream of the crop of the country’s young athletes participate. Here four Lowveld athletes received medals in everything from sprints to middle and long distances and triple jump too.
U23 athlete Kayla Coetzee, who runs under the banner of Nedbank LVCC Running Club, was the only multi-medal winner in the Mpumalanga team. Coetzee won bronze in the 3 000m with a time of 10:34.14, which she followed up with a silver in the 5 000m with a time of 18:39.07.
Hoërskool Nelspruit learner Zoë Cilliers received bronze in the girls U18 200m with a time of 24:72 and missed out on a medal in the 100m by only 0.04sec. Fellow Nellie Owen Ngwenya jumped 14.16m to receive a bronze in the U18 boys triple jump.
Finally, Uplands learner Princely Mhangana took bronze in the boys U18 800m thanks to his 1:53.02 time.
Next in line for the high school athletes was the SASA High Schools National Championships in Bloemfontein from April 2 to 5. Nine Mpumalanga athletes saw to it that the team won a total of 10 medals, half of which came from Ehlanzeni.
Princely improved on his previous 800m time to take silver in the boys U17 final, clocking in at 1:52.65. Owen couldn’t improve on his previous distance but did still earn a silver medal in the boys U17 triple jump with a distance of 14.02m. NHS athlete Anele Mkhonto took silver in the U19 boys 800m, finishing in 1:55.23.
Rob Ferreira High School athletes Tumisho Letsoalo and Mthokozisi Ndlovu also bagged medals of their own. Tumisho took silver in the U19 boys 110m hurdles in a time of 13.97sec, while Mthokozisi finished his boys U19 400m hurdles in 52.51sec to claim bronze.
Overall it was a highly successful nationals season for Ehlanzeni. With the ASA Primary Sub-youth National Championships to come in December, the year could yet get sweeter for Athletics Mpumalanga.
