Hosts UJ grab two field titles in Varsity Athletics
… but UP-Tuks were the overall winners.
If the crowd thought the recent NMMU fixture and first of four legs in the Varsity Athletics was gripping, they definitely did not go home disappointed when UJ was home to the second leg of the competition on Monday 14 April.
In cool but otherwise perfect weather conditions, the oval track and field of UJ’s Westdene Stadium saw teams from universities around the country compete for honours during what was one of the most exciting events held in the city recently.
Although the University of Pretoria (UP-Tuks) came out strongly as the overall winner by dominating from the start and taking four of the five women’s track events, the UJ field team gave the home crowds a reason to shout as they delivered impressive performances, walking away with two of the titles on offer.
Dewald van Heerden delighted all with a throw of 55,33 metres to win the discus title. To give the home crowd even more reason to cheer, Apelele Rasmeni edged out UP-Tuks’ Dwayne Boer to win the triple jump event. The first-ever hammer throw event in the competition was won by NWU-Pukke’s Juan Muller, with Kovsies’ JVA Steytler claiming the high jump title with a jump of 2,06m.
Muller’s success was taken further by NWU-Pukke’s women’s field team that saw them claim two of the evening’s three titles. An upset in the shot put saw home favourite Lezaan Jordaan beaten by NWU-Pukke’s Geraldine Duvenage, with team mate Megan Wilke dominating the javelin item. But all was not lost for the home team with Patience Ntshingila winning the evening’s long jump title and thrilling the crowd with a jump of 6,15m.
The 400m hurdles saw UP-Tuks’ Anneri Ebersohn cross the finish line first. As the firm favourite, she did not disappoint. The 1 500m was nail-biting all the way with a neck-on-neck surge in the final lap between UP-Tuks’ Stella Marais and UJ’s SA U/23 champion, Sibanga, with Marais pulling away on the home stretch to win in a time of 4.33.31.
The excitement of the women’s track events continued across the 100m, 100m hurdles and the 4x100m relay, with the only women’s track event not taken by UP-Tuks being the 100m sprint, which saw NWU-Pukke’s Melissa Hewwit defend her crown to keep the title. And it wouldn’t be a Varsity Athletics event without some drama on the night.
The 100m women’s hurdles saw Rikinette Steenkamp from UP-Tuks take first place followed by Ansulet Potgieter despite what appeared to be a pulled hamstring for Potgieter. The 4x100m relay saw an easy win for the team from UP-Tuks who narrowly missed a record with a time of 46,05 seconds, followed by Maties in second place. It was clearly a night to remember for the UP-Tuks’ women’s track team.
The men’s track events however saw an even spread of titles and records, with a mix of winners across the different universities.
UP-Tuks emerged as winners in the night’s 200m with an easy win by Akani Simbine, finishing with a time of 20,66 and a new record, together with a win for UP-Tuks in the 4x100m relay which saw them crossing the line in a time of 39,52 seconds, this time beating their own record.
André Olivier of NWU-Pukke took first place in the 800m, taking over the lead from Kovsies’ Rynhard van Rensburg in the final bend to break his record from last year with a new time of 1.45.98.
With a false start in the 400m that saw NMMU’s Lonwabo Majerman disqualified, Shaun de Jager from Maties got off to an impressive start but ultimately it was national champion Wayde van Niekerk (Kovsies) who streaked past De Jager to reclaim his 400m crown. With the men’s 5 000m coming down to a race between two, home favourite Jeromy Andreas (UJ) and NWU-Pukke’s Jerry Motsau, it was Motsau who crossed the finish line first.
