The University of Pretoria, UP-Tuks, came out strongly as the overall winner once again at the event, giving them a clean sweep so far in this year’s programme.
NWU-Pukke dominated the men’s track events, taking three of the five titles on offer namely the 400m hurdles, 800m and 5000m. An upset in the 400m hurdles saw NWU-Pukke’s Hardus Maritz cross the finish line first beating the race favourite, UP-Tuks’ Le Roux Hamman.
The 800m came down to an exciting finish between NWU-Pukke’s Olympic Silver medallist, Nijel Amos and Rynhardt van Rensburg from Kovsies, with Amos taking home the title in his first 800m race of the year.
With the wind a major factor, the 5000m men’s race was a tactical event coming down to a gripping finish between UJ’s Jeromy Andreas and NWU-Pukke’s Rantso Mokopane, with Mokopane proving stronger in the final sprint across the finishing line.
The 100m was won by Kovsies Gideon Trotter in a time of 10.79 seconds, whilst UP-Tuks continued their dominance of the 4x100m relay leading from the start to a comfortable win.
But whilst NWU-Pukke may have dominated the men’s track events, it was the women’s team from UP-Tuks who crossed the finish line first in the majority of the events, winning three of the five titles.
UJ’s SA Under-23 champion, Sibanda, took control of the 1500m from early on with defending champion Stella Marais from UP-Tuks not far behind.
However, a stumble from Sibanda near the finish line saw a dramatic end to this race, with Marais passing to take home the win.
With two false starts in the 100m hurdles, which saw the runners from NWU and UWC both disqualified, Rikinette Steenkamp from UP-Tuks, retained her 100m hurdles title comfortably finishing in a time of 13.71 seconds.
The team from UP-Tuks also went on to take the 4x100m, coming from behind to beat the Maties home side. Defending champion, NWU-Pukke’s Melissa Hewwitt held onto her 200m title despite strong headwind on the final straight.
Nonetheless, all was not lost for the home crowd as Maties’ national champion, Justine Palframan finished first in the 400m.
In what clearly became a race between only two contestants, Palframan managed to hold off a charging Anneri Ebersohn from UP-Tuks, securing first place in a Varsity Athletics record time.
There were however no real surprises or upsets in the men’s field events, with all three winners previous champions. UP-Tuks’ Orazio Cremona continued his record of throwing over 20m at every meeting this year, finishing first in the men’s Shot Put with a throw of 20.07m.
Fellow teammate, Chad Herman threw 68.10m in the Javelin, a distance of 5m further than his nearest challenger, giving UP-Tuks their second field title of the evening.
The Long Jump was won by SA Champion, Zarcke Visser, UJ, who took home the honours with a jump of 7.78m with SA Junior Champion, Dwayne Boer of UP-Tuks finishing in second place with his jump of 7.66m.
The women’s field events saw NWU-Pukke winning two of the three events. Biance Erwee was clearly a cut above the rest in the High Jump, taking home the title with a season’s best of 1.75m.
NWU-Pukke teammate, Geraldine Duvenage once again took the Discus title with a throw of 53.04m which gave her the added honour of being the only competitor to exceed 50m.
The Triple Jump was narrowly won by Helga-Wendy Bensusan who finished with a final jump of 12.10m, seeing UP-Tuks’ Michelle Cornelius finishing second with a jump of 12.08m.
The final leg of the Varsity Sports athletics programme will take place at the University of Pretoria on Monday, 28 April 2014.
Varsity Athletics Team Points, Stellenbosch event, Monday 21 April:
1. UP-Tuks – 121 points
2. NUW-Pukke – 102 points
3. UJ – 90.5 points
4. UFS-Kovsies – 79.5 points
5. Maties – 69 points
6. NMMU Madibaz – 40 points
7. UWC – 48 points
8. TUT – 44 points
Varsity Sport
