Crowds witnessed remarkable performances and shattered records over the past few days at the 2024 University Sport South Africa Track & Field Championships, concluded at the Coetzenburg Stadium in Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape, on Saturday, 6 April, 2024
Jo-Ane van Dyk, representing North West University (NWU), etched her name in history by shattering a 21-year-old record formerly held by Sunette Viljoen in the Women’s Senior Javelin event. Van Dyk clinched the gold with an astonishing throw of 62.70 meters, surpassing Viljoen’s previous mark of 61.59 meters.
Adding to NWU’s triumph, Khathala Neheng delivered a stunning performance, breaking not one but two records. Neheng clocked 1:14:00 in the Women’s Senior Half Marathon, breaking Portia Ngwenya’s 11-year-old record. Additionally, she shattered her own record in the Women’s Senior 10km race, finishing with a time of 33:43.56.
Joviale Mbisha of UJ Sport secured her first-ever gold medal at the championships in the Women’s Senior 100m event.
Although pleased with the victory, Mbisha expressed a desire to improve her time, saying: “I feel super excited about the outcome, but not ideally happy with the time but at the end of the day I’m happy with the win because it was all about getting my first USSA gold medal this year.”
Over three days of intense competition, Tuks emerged as the champions, accumulating 330 points. North-West University secured the second position with 285 points, followed by the University of Johannesburg with 256 points, and TUT with 198 points.