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Koekemoer set the track alight during the Wildeklawer TUT Top 14

By Hannes Nienaber , in Athletics | Featured Athletics | News Featured | Main , at 2025-01-30 Tags: , , , , ,

Fichardtpark’s Matthew Durow won the hammer throw for boys u19 with a new record distance of 62.28m. PHOTO: Marius Nortjé

Helpmekaar Kollege’s Leendert Koekemoer made a memorable comeback during Wildeklawer TUT Top 14 in the 400m for boys u19. The meeting was hosted by Curro Hazeldean at the Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria.

In the third heat the World Junior Championship silver medalist from the Hoërskool Ermelo, Kryn Romijn, dipped under 47 seconds with a time of 46.50 seconds.

Koekemoer’s last race for his school was at this meeting last year where he tore his hamstring. Koekemoer was drawn in the fourth and final heat and was a man on a mission. He won the race in an excellent time of 45.96 seconds. His time as well as Romjin is faster than the best time in the world so far in 2025 which was set by Australian Jordan Gilbert (46.79) earlier this year.

Tyran Brooks (u16) of Marais Viljoen walked away with the award for the best senior male track athlete of the meeting. He produced some impressive performances for this early on in the athletics season in the middle distances. He won the 1 500m in 4 minutes and 2.72 seconds to set a new meeting record. This performance also brought him 927 points.

In the 3 000m he also set a new meeting record as he crossed the finish line in an impressive 8:39.79. This was worth 967 points. Brooks participated as part of the invitational team.

The best athlete in the field for seniors was Dewald Bezuidenhout (Affies) who was also part of the invitational side. His best attempt in the shot put for boys u16 touched the ground for the first time at 17.19 metres. It also bettered the previous record of 16.61m held by Brandon Matthews (Transvalia).

Bezuidenhout secured a silver medal in the discus event with a throw of 47.46m. He only lost out on a gold medal thanks to an attempt of 47.58m by Garsfontein’s Jaden Stewart.

Dr. Malan’s Darius Botha (u15) started his competitive season with a bang as he received the maximum amount of points for both of his events. His 2,000 points naturally gave him the award of the junior male athlete of the meeting. He won the shot put with an attempt of 18.70m and the discus with a throw of 65m.

The throw of 65 metres in the discus bettered the previous meeting record of 59 metres by a massive six metres. It stood behind the name of Bezuidenhout since last year’s inaugural TUT Top 13 meeting. Bezuidenhout’s u15 shot put record of 18.84m did survive Botha’s onslaught.

Three of the gold medalists in the 100m sprints – Inam Dlunge (u19), Mukona Manavhela (u17) and Thato Mahlatsi (u16) all from Curro Hazeldean dipped under 11 seconds but none of the 100m records of the meeting was bettered during the meeting.

It is difficult to better Olympic medalist Bayanda Walaza (Curro Hazeldean) meeting record of 10.34 seconds. Dlunge did however put up an exhilarating performance as he blitzed the 100m in 10.56 seconds.

Manavhela moved to Curro Hazeldean from Jeppe High School for Boys and his winning time of 10.73 seconds came close to bettering Ofentse Nondabula‘s (Jeugland) record of 10.72 seconds. Manavhela’s own record of 10.85 seconds for boys u15 also survived. He also won the 200m sprint in an excellent time of 21.60 seconds.

Mahlatsi won his race in 10.92 seconds and he was almost surprised to have dipped under 11 seconds.

Hannes Nienaber
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.