NWU-Pukke set new Varsity Athletics records in two of the four men’s field events at the Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium on Monday.
The Potchefstroom varsity finished top in the Hammer Throw and Discus, with Alan Cumming taking the Hammer Throw in dramatic circumstances and Ruan Murray finishing top in the Discus.
There was a win for UWC in the Javelin, with Stephen Klue too good for NMMU’s Chad Herman, while in the Long Jump UP-Tuks’ Duwayne Boer managed to hold off the challenge of national champion Ruswahl Samaai from UJ.
Hammer Throw
NWU-Pukke’s Alan Cumming claimed a dramatic victory in the Hammer Throw, setting a new Varsity Athletics record with his final throw of the evening. Cumming was lying in second place behind UJ’s Christiaan Stebbing, whose second throw of 57.81m had him in pole position, but Cumming threw the hammer 58.13m with his final effort, edging Stebbing in the process, with Kovsies’ Juan Muller finishing third with a throw of 55.88.
Javelin
Stephen Klue from UWC held off the challenge of national champion and Varsity Athletics record-holder Chad Herman to claim the Javelin title. Klue’s throw of 72.50 handed him top spot on the podium, with UP-Tuks’ Herman finishing second with a throw of 71.07m and NWU-Pukke’s Jayson Henning’s effort of 68.19m earning him third place.
Long Jump
There was something of an upset in the Long Jump with national champion Ruswahl Samaai finishing in third place with a best jump of 7.03m. It was Duwayne Boer from UP-Tuks who took the honours with a jump of 7.28m, with NWU-Pukke’s Koketso Mogapi ending second not far behind at 7.21m.
Discus
Ruan Murray from NWU-Pukke set a new Varsity Athletics Discus record with a throw of 56.42m, beating previous record holder Dewald van Heerden from UJ into second place. Van Heerden thew the Discus 53.98m, which made him the only other athlete to break the 50m barrier with Kovsies’ Ryno van Winkel finishing third with a throw of 49.68m
