INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
On Wednesday, 2nd February, our school Athletics Team finally took to the field, after a year’s absence from inter-schools’ competition, to take part in the 2022 Independent Schools’ Athletics. After being cancelled in 2021 and delayed due to weather last week, the athletes were itching to show off their skill. This was also the first time that the event has been held on the school’s track, and the Grounds Staff and Sports Staff did a fantastic job in preparing a top class event and facilities. Stanford Lake College dominated the event from the get go, taking numerous wins and podium finishes throughout the day. The visiting schools of Mitchell House, Ridgeway College, Curro Heuwelkruin and PEPPS Polokwane, put up some great individual performances and even managed to set a few new Independent Schools’ records. However, it was the consistent participation and team effort by the Stanford athletes that won the day, winning the event for the sixth time consecutively by 186 points. Special congratulations to Zayd Moosa for setting a new U/16 shotput record of 12m 55cm and to Fia Niemann who was awarded the Junior Victrix Ludorum. Well done to all athletes, team captains Heidi Katzke and Devon Coad, as well as the coaches for a brilliant result.
TRIP TO LOUIS TRICHARDT
On Friday, 4th February the Athletics team travelled to Hoërskool Louis Trichardt to participate in the YOLO Athletics meeting. The Athletes got off to a slow start but caught up to the other schools when the sprint and hurdles started. Some of the highlights of the day were in the U/15 and U/16 Girls 800m races as well as the 1500m, where Stanford had a clean sweep of the podium. Stanford finished in 2nd place around 200 points behind Hoërskool Louis Trichardt and about 150 points ahead of Northern Academy who finished in 3rd place. Stanford had an excellent athletics season, winning the Independent Schools again and coming second in the YOLO Athletics meeting at Hoërskool Louis Trichardt. During the season, athletes have three events to try and break the school records and we are ecstatic to announce that a total of 18 records were broken this season:
Boys U/17 100m D. Ramalepe 11.06s
Girls U/17 100m O. Drewett 15.06s
Girls U/17 100m Hurdles T. Murasiranwa 18.80s
Boys U/17 1500m M. Day 04:49.15min
Boys U/17 200m D. Ramalepe 23.59s
Girls U/16 200m N. Kgopong 28.75s
Boys U/19 400m Hurdles D. Coad 01:02.53min
Boys U/17 400m M. Day 56.41s
Boys U/17 800m M. Day 02:12.17min
Girls U/14 Discus I. Brett 27.07m
Girls U/17 Discus L. De Bruyn 19.72m
Boys U/17 High Jump K. Noné 1.83m
Girls U/16 High Jump D. Maswanganyi 1.25m
Boys U/16 Shotput Z. Moosa 12.55m
Girls U/17 Shotput L. De Bruyn 8.94m
Boys U/19 Triple Jump K. Buliani 12.45m
Girls U/17 Triple Jump T. Murasiranwa 9.30m
Girls U/14 Shotput I. Brett 10.42m
TRIALS
On Wednesday 23rd February, twelve Stanford athletes participated in the Mopani Championships hosted by High School Frans du Toit. The blistering heat got to the athletes which saw them struggle at first. In order to qualify for the next round, the athletes had to finish in the Top 3 in their event. Seven athletes managed to qualify for the Limpopo Championship which took place on Saturday 5th March at Peter Mokaba Stadium. These athletes and their events were as follows:
• Kondwani Buliani – 100m and 200m
• Fia Niemann – 400m
• Devon Coad – 110m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles
• Caitlin le Roux – Javelin
• Kian Noné – High Jump
• Zayd Moosa – Shotput
• Ethen Mwesigwa – High Jump
At the Limpopo Champs, the athletes participated in nine events and Stanford walked away with two podium finishes and a couple of close 4th places. Kondwani Buliani came 3rd in the 100m for Boys U/19 and Zayd Moosa got a silver medal for Shot Put Boys U/17.
Well done to all the athletes who participated in all the events this year. Stanford is proud of you all.