Six athletes from Western Province were selected for the youth team that participated in Namibia during the Southern Region Youth Championships on 28-29 May 2011 and delivered outstanding performances, returning with five medals.
Javelin throw athlete Morne Moolman was the only one from the province to participate in a field event and delivered an extraordinary performance by sending the javelin to a massive 81.37m. He won the event and improved on his personal best with his very first attempt, leaving his competition in awe of the distance. His closest competitor, Stephen Beukes from Botswana, only threw 68.78m. Morne will be one of the athletes to represent South Africa during the World Youth Championships in France. “I feel great about my performance. With hard work you really do get to the top,” Morne told us.
Mareike Wolhunter finished fourth in the 400m race behind compatriot Izelle Neuhoff, Christine Botlogetswe from Botswana and another South African, Stephanie Wicksell, after her 56.85sec finish.
In the 100m the top 3 spots were all taken by South African athletes. Bradley Britz had to settle for the second place after being beaten by fellow teammate Hendrick Khumalo from Central Gauteng. Bradley finished the 100m in 10.62sec which was not enough to beat the 10.55sec of Hendrick. Sergeal Petersen finished in the 3rd place with 10.82sec.
Earlier this year during the SA Championships, Bradley finished in 10.64sec and also had to be happy with the silver medal as Sergeal snatched the gold away from him with his 10.55sec victory.
But it is back to the drawing board for Bradley after Namibia. “There is always room for improvement when it comes to my performance, now I know I’ll have to work much harder,” said Bradley about the way he performed.
For Tiaan Smit the 110m hurdles results at the Youth Championships must have been a repetition of the past when he finished in the second place behind Andries van der Merwe. Exactly the same happened at the SA Championships when Tiaan crossed the line in 13.66sec behind the 13.54sec of Andries. The only difference this time around was the time it took him to cross the finish line. The Southern Region Youth Championships saw Tiaan finish behind teammate Andries van der Merwe as he crossed the line in 13.41sec, just shy of Andries’s 13.39sec. If we see more of this improvement from Tiaan, things may just change in the future.
Stacey Welsch performed well but had to be satisfied after she finished in the bronze medal position. “I need to train hard for the new season without anything holding me back. Only when I achieve my short term goals (to run the 100m in 11.50sec and the 200m in 24sec) can I work towards my long term goal, which is to run qualifying times with best in the world,” Stacey mentioned. She crossed the finish line in 25.08sec after Philippa van der Merwe from the North Western Cape and Janet Seelinger from Gauteng North finished in 24.32sec and 24.99sec respectively.
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