The University of Johannesburg’s Jaco Engelbrecht had the biggest smile north of the Jukskei River after shattering his personal best distance in the shot put during the third and final meeting in the Varsity Athletics Challenge.
Engelbrecht exploded with a distance of 20.31 meters to beat Kovsies’ Ryno van Winkel (16.99) by nearly four meters. More importantly, though, he recorded the fourth best distance ever in South Africa, and bettered his previous best of 19.83m by nearly half a meter.
Another improvement like that will send him on his way to the World Athletics Championships in Moscow later this year. To qualify for that, Engelbrecht needs a distance of 20.60 – and he has no doubt he’s capable of that.
“Everything came together tonight – it was just perfect,” the Johannesburg student said after his triumph. “The temperature was perfect and I did everything exactly the way I wanted to. It’s the first time I break through the 20m barrier in competition, but I’ve done it so often in training that I knew I had it in me. I’m really chuffed.”
NWU-Pukke’s André Olivier delivered another big highlight, when he won the 800m for men in a time of 1:46.01. That time is within the B-qualifying criteria of 1:46.20 for Moscow, and just shy of the A-time (1:45.30). For this performance Olivier was crowned as Victor Ludorum.
The Victrix Ludorum award went to Maties’ Justine Palframan, who won the 200m in 23.55 seconds – only 0.25 seconds outside the B-time for Moscow.
After all was said and done, the night did however belong to the home team and its fans, with Tuks crowned as overall champion of the Varsity Athletics Challenge in front of a rowdy crowd.
The Pretoria athletes earned 134 points to add team victory in the third meet to their triumphs in the previous two. With nine points on offer for the victorious team, and seven for finishing second, Tuks ended the competition with 27 points.
Pukke was second on 20, while UJ and Tukkies both finished on 17. Third place was however given to the Joburg team, who recorded more first places during the series.
Tuks’ winners on the night were the hurdlers Tshepo Lefete and Rikenette Steenkamp and javelin thrower Anzel van der Schyff.
Steenkamp is the national champion in the 100m hurdles, but lost to Kovsies’ Ansulet Potgieter at this past weekend’s SA students’ championships. She took her revenge back home, though, when she beat Potgieter by 0.11 seconds (13.59 to 13.70).
Results on Monday 29 April:
Men:
High Jump: 1. JVA Steytler (Kovsies) 2.10; 2. Garth Ellis (NMMU) 2.05; 3. Ruan Claasen (UJ) 2.00.
Triple Jump: 1. Roger Haitengi (UJ) 16.29; 2. Albert Janki (Tuks) 14.58; 3. Takalani Munyane (TUT) 14.06.
Shot Put: 1. Jaco Engelbrecht (UJ) 20.31; 2. Ryno van Winkel (Kovsies) 16.99; 3. Ruan Murray (NWU-Puk) 16.03.
110m hurdles: 1. Tshepo Lefete (Tuks) 13.96; 2. André Storm (NWU-Puk) 14.06; 3. Gary Morris (Maties) 15.09.
3000m steeplechase: 1. Dean Brummer (NWU-Puk) 8:59.58; 2. Tumela Motlagale (UJ) 9:11.53; 3. Adam Lipschitz (UJ) 9:13.42.
100m: 1. Gideon Trotter (Kovsies) 10.46; 2. Emile Erasmus (Tuks) 10.47; 3. Brent Stevens (UWC) 10.60.
Javelin: 1. Chad Herman (NMMU) 75.83; 2. Jason Henning (NWU-Puk) 70.00; 3. Ulrich Damon (UWC) 68.73.
200m: 1. 1. Wayde van Niekerk (Kovsies) 20.84; 2. Akani Simbine (Tuks) 20.92; 3. Rodwell Ndlovu (NMMU) 21.67.
800m: 1. André Olivier (NWU-Puk) 1:46.01; 2. Rynardt van Rensburg (Kovsies) 1:47.38; 3, Jacques Pretorius (Maties) 1:49.39.
Women:
High Jump: 1. Bianca Erwee (NWU-Puk) 1.75; 2. Carina du Preez (UJ) 1.65; 3. Leandri Botha (Kovsies) 1.65.
Javelin: 1. Anzel van der Schyff (Tuks) 50.13; 2. Gizelle Bernard (NWU-Puk) 43.81; 3. Janica Geldenhuys (Kovsies) 37.41.
100 hurdles: 1. Rikenette Steenkamp (Tuks) 13.59; 2. Ansulet Potgieter (Kovsies) 13.70; 3. Mihandra Dorfling (NWU-Puk) 14.83.
100m: 1. Melissa Hewitt (NWU-Puk) 11.92; 2. Elzette Buys (Tuks) 11.99; 3. Nabeela Parker (Maties) 12.13.
3000 steeplechase: 1. Thembi Baloyi (TUT) 11:03.66; 2. Ashleigh Schnetler (UJ) 11:19.08; 3. Leani Grimes (Tuks) 11:32.37.
Triple Jump: 1. Kelly Kingwill (UJ) 12.70; 2. Benita Botha (Tuks) 11.82; 3. Danelle Erwee (Kovsies) 11.23.
Shot Put: 1. Ischke Senekal (NMMU) 15.39; 2. Sonia Smuts (Tuks) 15.36; 3. Biancka van Rooyen (UJ) 14.68.
200m: 1. Justine Palframan (Maties) 23.55; 2. Phillipa van der Merwe (Tuks) 24.53; 3. Petunia Obisi (TUT) 25.40.
800m: 1. Danel Prinsloo (Kovsies) 2:07.42; 2. Annuschka Nice (Tuks) 2:08.30; 3. Anruné Liebenberg (Maties) 2:11.91.
4x100m mixed relay: 1. Tuks 42.89; 2. NWU-Pukke 44.21; 3. UJ 44.30.
Medley relay: 1. Tuks 3:32.11; 2. Maties 3:33.25; 3. NWU-Puk 3:35.83.
Team totals in the third Varsity Athletics Challenge meet in Pretoria on 29 April:
1 Tuks 134
2 UJ 112
3 NWU-Pukke 111
4 Kovsies 106
5 Maties 100
6 NMMU 64
7 TUT 55
8 UWC 55
