The University of Pretoria, UP-Tuks, came out strongly as the overall winner at the event, dominating from the start and taking home four of the five women’s track events.
The 400m hurdles saw UP-Tuks’ Anneri Ebersohn cross the finish line first. The 1500m was won by Stella Marais in a time of 4.33.31.
The only women’s track event not taken by UP-Tuks was the 100m sprint, which saw NWU-Pukke’s Melissa Hewwit defend her crown to keep the title.
In the 100m women’s hurdles UP-Tuks’ Rikinette Steenkamp took first place followed by Ansulet 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.
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. The 4x100m relay saw UP-Tuks crossing the line in a time of 39.52 seconds, this time beating their own record.
André Olivier of NWU-Pukke took home first place in the 800m, breaking his record from last year with a new time of 1.45.98.
Shaun de Jager from Maties got off to an impressive start in the 400m, but it was ultimately national champion Wayde van Niekerk, Kovsies who reclaimed his crown.
With the men’s 5000m NWU-Pukke’s Jerry Motsau crossed the finish line first.
The UJ field team walked away with two of the titles on offer.
Dewald van Heerden won the discus title with a throw of 55.33m while Apelele Rasmeni edged out UP-Tuks’ Dwayne Boer to win the Triple Jump event.
The first-ever hammer throw was won by NWU-Pukke’s Juan Muller, with Kovsies’ JVA Steytler claiming the high jump title with a jump of 2.06m.
NWU-Pukke’s women’s field team claimed two of the evening’s three titles.
In the shot put NWU-Pukke’s Geraldine Duvenage, claimed victory with team-mate Megan Wilke dominating the javelin. However, all was not lost for the home team, with Patience Ntshingila winning the night’s long jump title with a jump of 6.15m.
The next leg of the Varsity Sports athletics programme will take place at the University of Stellenbosch on 21 April, followed shortly by the fourth and final event at the University of Pretoria on 28 April.
Varsity Sport
