Manfred Seidler, South Africa (17/07/2006)

The future for South African athletics is shining brightly as the team that went to Mauritius for the Southern Region Junior Track and Field Championships brought home whopping 30 medals.

The two-day competition will play a major role in the determination of the final selection of the team that will travel to Beijing for the World Junior Championships from 15-20 August.

Ten nations competed in the Championships from 15 to 16 July and as expected South Africa’s Simone Du Toit was unstoppable. Her 16.32m in the Shot Put was almost 5m further than second place.

Du Toit then went on to win the Discus with a throw of 48.83m. The World Youth Champion is aiming for Gold in the Shot Put at the World Junior Championships. She is also looking to bag a medal in the Discus.

A surprise was the Javelin result as Robert Oosthuizen who went to the Commonwealth Games had to settle for silver behind team mate Noel Meyer.

Oosthuizen took the lead in the javelin in the second round with a throw of 74.98m and would have expected to win the gold with that effort, but Meyer responded with a throw of 75.19m in the 4th round.

Easy win

South African Tshemano Setone underlined his class with an easy win in the 1500m.

The national champion, who looked very comfortable at the South African Championships winning with a 3:47.54 effort, was never tested at the Southern Region Junior Championships, cruising home in 4:00.30 – 6sec ahead of Swaziland’s Colina Mkhonta.

Setone is definitely one to watch out for in the future having already run at senior level at this years Commonwealth Games.

Lihann Fourie who clocked 13.75sec at the South African Junior Championships in Pretoria in April was too strong in the 110mh. Fourie ran 14.50sec to win with Louw Smit second in 14.77sec.

In total South Africa brought home 18 Gold, 8 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. What was impressive is that there was a broad range of disciplines in which South Africa was dominant.

South Africa Winners

Gold:
Mens 4x400m (Wilhelm De Beer; Ivan Bloepi; Ruaan Grobler; Pieter Smith) 3.19;39;
110mh Lehann Fourie 14.50sec;
100mh Erika Kleinhans 14.20sec;
800m Angela Wagner (2:11;64);
3000m SC Edwin Malope (9.50;77);
200m M Kagiso Kumbane 21.40sec;
200m W Wanda Theron 24.84sec;
1500m Tshamone Setone 4.00;30;
100m Dayne Le Kay 10.66sec;
400mh Wickus Jonck 53.20sec;
400m Alvin Samuels 48.53sec;
4x100m Relay Men (Dayne Le Kay; Kagiso Kumbane; Wilhelm Van Der Vyfer; Tshegofatso Mosheo) 41.83sec;
Javelin Noel Meyer 75.19m;
Shot Put Simone Du Toit 16.32m;
Discus Simone Du Toit 48.83m;
800m Dirk Gouws 1.54;05;
Long Jump Keenan Watson 7.43m;
Shot Put JP Hoffman 18.48m

Silver:
100m Wanda Theron 12.17sec;
400m Arista Hefer 57.54sec;
1500m Destiny Titus 5:02;41;
400mh Juan Bloem 53.21sec;
Javelin Robert Oosthuizen 74.98m;
800m Jan Masenamela 1.56;41;
110h Louw Smit 14.77sec;
Shot Put Nico Grobler 18.12m;

Bronze:
100m W Claudine Jansen Van Rensburg 12.38sec;
100m M LeRoux Van Tonder 10.94sec;
400m Pieter Smit 49.16sec;
200m Tshegofatso Meshoe 21.58sec

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