Curro Podium Athletics. Luke van der Merwe, grade 11, from Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch, won the Boys 17 high jump at the Curro Podium Athletics. The event was held at the Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday 18 February.
Beating out 33 other high jumpers, Van der Merwe cleared 2.0 meters for the second time this week. He also done so at the Prestige Athletics on Tuesday, 14 February. This puts Van der Merwe on the top of the rankings for his age group. It also makes him a serious medal contender for both the ASA Age Group Championships. This event takes place on 23 to 25 March at the Msunduzi Athletics Stadium, Pietermaritzburg. The SA Schools Athletics Championship takes place from 20 to 25 April in Germiston).
More highlights
Luke’s teammate, Harrison Gibson, jumped 1.85m and ended in the 8th position. Other highlights on the day saw Wayden Julies also record personal bests for the 200m with 23.01 seconds (22th). He also ran the 400m with 50.91 seconds (12th). Musahdiq Cornelson also ran a blistering 200m with a time of 23.36 seconds.Kyle Bonner improved his PB in both the long and triple jump, going 6.16m and 11.50m on the day. Thomas Coetsee and Josh Venter both did well in the shotput and discus.Thomas ended 20th in the shotput and Josh 19th in the discus.
AJ Krynauw also ran a 59.58 on the 400m hurdles. He finished 11th with a 15.62 on the 110m hurdles earning him 12th place. Jordan Steenkamp ran a superb 14.95 seconds on the way to finishing 10th for the 110m hurdles. Barthelemy Bena-Ntumba had the privilege of running in one of the 100m heats scheduled later in the day. His time of 11.21 was just outside of his PB and earned him a 17th place for the day.
The middle distance trio of Gerard Bekker, Mark Lester and Christopher Steyn also did well. Gerard ran a 54:30 in the 400m and finished in 10th position with his 800m time of 2:09.37 placing him at number 8 for the day. Mark ran 2:10,81 for the 800m which saw him earn the 10th place and 4:38,23 for the 1500m, which saw him come in at 20th. Christopher continued the strong showing with a 2:01,27 in his 800m race for 10the place and a 04:12,64 for his 1500m race to finish 14th.
The team finished in 17th position on the day and showed that the PRG athletes can hold their own on the national stage.
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