Home side Maties dominated the sprint races at the Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium in Stellenbosch on Monday.
The home side claimed the honours in three races and finished second in one, with Justine Palframan winning the 100m, Jean Marie Senekal taking the 100m hurdles and finishing second in the 400m hurdles and their 4x100m team finishing the evening on a high with a win in front of their home crowd.
UP-Tuks also won two of the races on the night, with Anneri Ebersohn just holding off Senekal in the 400m hurdles and Anuscha Nice winning the 800m easily.
The 3000m race was won by Olympic 800m silver medallist Caster Semenya who powered past the rest of the field in the final stages to clinch a dramatic victory.
100m
Home favourite Justine Palframan got the crowd going early on with a blistering time of 11.75 to win the 100m sprint. Palframan is the national 200m and 400m champion, and showed what she can do over a shorter distance as well to take the win. She was followed by NWU-Pukke’s Melissa Hewitt who finished in 11.94, with UP-Tuks’ Margaret Olwoch third in 12.05.
400mh
Anneri Ebersohn from UP-Tuks bolted out of the blocks and built up a significant lead, but Maties’ Jean Marie Senekal came back strongly with the support of a vocal home crowd at Coetzenburg. It was just the two of them as they came down the home straight, and Ebersohn just managed to edge Senekal in what was a photo finish on the line. Ebersohn finished in 59.28, with Senekal second by the slimmest of margins in a time of 59.32 and NWU-Pukke’s Cynthia Testsewa third in 62.37.
3000m
Mamphielo Sibanda from UJ set the early pace, with the chasing pack on her shoulder in a tight group. TUT’s Murendwa Davhana hit the front in the second half of the race and tried to put some distance between herself and the rest, but she was kept in check as a lead group of five runners separated themselves from the rest. Davhana fell away on the penultimate lap, and Maties’ Zani Kruger made a move, with Sibanda and UP-Tuks’ Stella Marais close behind, but they were all left behind by Caster Semenya who put on the afterburners and raced past them on the final straight to win in a time of 9.49.85, with Kruger second and Sibanda in third.
100mh
Jean Marie Senekal from Maties followed up her second place in the 400m hurdles with an impressive victory in the 100m hurdles. Much to the delight of the Stellenbosch crowd Senekal left her rivals behind her, running a time of 14.09. She was followed closely by Lizzy Kriel from Kovsies in a time of 14.18 and UJ’s Chrizanne Markram finished third a little further behind in 14.81.
800m
UP-Tuks’ Anuscha Nice made a fast start and put some space between herself and the rest early on. The only runner able to stay in touch was Kovsies’ Rizani van Aswegen, but she faded away in the last stages of the race and was passed by Gena Lofstrand from NWU-Pukke who finished second. There was no catching Nice who finished in a time of 2.08.07 head of Lofstrand and Van Aswegen.
4x100m
With the overall result coming down to the final race all eyes were on UP-Tuks and NWU-Pukke, but it was home side Maties that took the win fairly easily in the end. UP-Tuks managed to hold off NWU-Pukke to take second place.
