Athletes shine ahead of Triple J
The past couple of weeks local athletes were in action on the track and field in the build-up to the annual Triple J Athletics meeting, presented by Hoërskool Rob Ferreira, which is set to take place at the end of October.
Last year’s South African School title holder, Hoërskool Nelspruit’s Douw Kruger (u/16), placed first for boys u/17 shot-put with a heave of 17,36 metres (977 points of the ABSA table) at a friendly meeting at NHS. Earlier this year at the SA champs at the Kenneth McArthur Stadium, Potchefstroom, he placed second with a distance of 17,44 metres.
Teammate Larize Combrink (girls u/15) added 25 metres to her distance since NHS’ interhouse meeting in the long-jump event, taking first place with a distance of 5,25 metres (939 points).
Another young up-and-coming athlete of NHS, Anje Nel also managed to bag more than
900 ABSA points with her first place in the high-jump event with a height of 1,55 metres. Current SA primary school champion, Laerskool Nelspruit’s Ashley Erasmus (13), competed with some of the big names in athletics circles, such as Shana Scott.
Ashley was in action for girls u/15 in the discus, javelin and shot-put events. At Rob she took the first spot on the podium, with a massive distance of 13,41 metres (shot-put, 922 points) and she received a silver medal with a distance of 27,62 metres in javelin. Shana won by 4,92 metres.
Rob’s speedster and long jump stalwart, Junior Mondlane, was the only boy on the day who managed to take home more than 900 points. He received a gold medal for his attempt of 6,97 metres in the long jump event.
