The Eduplex private school from Queenswood in the Pretoria Moot area improved dramatically on their fourth place during last year’s D-League Schools athletics Inter-High, when they defeated their seven opponents to win this event on Tuesday at the Pilditch stadium in Pretoria West.

Eduplex was engaged in a fierce battle with Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz from the north of the city throughout the day and eventually narrowly won with a total of 2208 points, while the Gerries finished second with 2154 points.

Then followed the host school, HTS John Vorster with 2092 points; Tuine High School with 2042 points; Lyttleton Manor High School with 1981 points; Heronbridge College with 1918 points; FH Odendaal High School with 1898 points and Willowridge High School with 1771 points.

Heron Bridge College is located in Nietgedach near Fourways and was the newcomer to the league, having been promoted from the E-league last year.

Willowridge High School will unfortunately be relegated to the E-league next year, while the winner of this league, Woodhill College, will join the D-league ranks next year. At least Willowridge didn’t go home empty-handed, as they won the Spirit Trophy for their energetic singing on the pavilion.

Participants in the event were a particularly good mix of schools from all corners of the city, with the North, South, East, West and Moot areas all represented.

HTS John Vorster’s presentation of the event was outstanding, especially considering the difficult weather conditions. The action started an hour late in the morning due to the rainy weather, but with the great cooperation of all the schools under the leadership of the host, things went so smoothly that the program was back on time by lunchtime.

No fewer than 14 new D-League records were set during the day’s action. Of these, only three were track records, which was to be expected given the weather conditions. The other eleven records were improved in field events. It was especially in the high jump where exceptional performances were seen with six of the new records belonging to high jumpers.

The 31-year-old record in the high jump for girls u-19 was the oldest to be broken on Tuesday. Annetjie Kruger from FH Odendaal managed to improve this record, which had stood since 1994, to 1.60m.

The big star of the event was Enrique Bruyns, a u-16 athlete from Hoërskool Tuine. He showed his versatility when he won three different events and set new records in two of them. His 59.22m in the javelin throw and his 6.70m in the long jump are both new record distances, while he also won the 100m in a great time of 11.15s.

For these achievements, Bruyns was named Senior Victor Ludorum as well as Best Overall male athlete.

Caleb Webb of Heronbridge College also achieved a hat-trick. He was named best sprinter after winning both the 100m (11.06s) and 400m (50.0s – new record) for boys under 19, while he also won the gold medal in the long jump with his record winning distance of 6.75m.

Lolwethu Makasi from Heronbridge College was named Best Overall female athlete and Senior Victrix Ludorum. She won both the sprint events for girls under 19 and her time of 25.47s in the 200m is a new record.

Hendrik van der Linde of HTS John Vorster’s 13.34m in the shot put for boys under 17 also deserves mention. He won the award as best Throw Athlete (Male) for this achievement.

Another boy from the host school, Jandré Coetzee’s record attempt of 12.85m in the shot put is also outstanding.

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