Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal: Maritzburg College (Pietermaritzburg) and Hoërskool Suid- Natal High School (Port- Shepstone) emerged as the top schools in KwaZulu-Natal, as the road to the National Final of the Track+Field high schools athletics series continued to gain momentum in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday.
Girls Winners- Hoerskool Suid- Natal High School were crowned overall girls champions of the sixth leg of the Track+Field 2025 series event held at Msunduzi, Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday, 03 March 2025. Hoerskool Suid- Natal High School will now represent the KwaZulu-Natal in the national final of the Track+Field series to be held in Gauteng. Picture credit Cecilia van Bers.
Competing at the Msunduzi Stadium, in the sixth leg of the nationwide campaign, the Suid Natal squad dominated the girls division.
They raked in 855 points, with St Anne's Diocesan School (Hilton) (647) and Treverton College (Mooi River) (492) finishing second and third respectively in the team competition.
"Ours is a small school compared to the other schools we compete against, but our children are really passionate, and they put a lot of work into this," said Suid Natal athletics coach Jaden McIntyre.
"Every week if we want to participate in athletics in Pietermaritzburg, we have to drive for three hours to get here, and sometimes we get back home after midnight.
"So, this means a lot to us. The competition today was amazing. It's given our learners the opportunity to keep improving and I think they really enjoyed it."
In the boys category, Maritzburg College (658 points) had to dig deep to hold off a strong challenge from Hilton College (651), while Treverton College (359) ended third.
"It feels very good to be the KZN T+F champions," said Maritzburg College athletics captain Lethokuhle Shangase.
"It was a long day and very tiring, but our boys gave their best today, and we're looking forward to competing in the final in Gauteng."
Meiring Kritzenger- Athletics Coach at Maritzburg College
In individual events, among the girls, the top performances were produced in the sprint races.
One of the highlights of the day included the U15 100m sprint, with Luca Gifford (Hermannsberg School) clocking 13.57 seconds to take the win, edging out Akheeliah Solomon (Carter High School) who grabbed second place in 13.71
There were also impressive results produced by Oyena Siyo (St Anne's), who won U15 200m event in 28.45, as well as Zelda Barnard who took the U19 200m race in 27.65, and Renielwe Mbatha (Treverton) who won the U15 400m contest in 1:06.46.
Among the buys, Theo Boshoff (Maritzburg) produced the best result of the meeting, launching a best attempt of 15.01m to win the U17 shot put competition.
In sprint events, Morne Engelbrecht impressed with a 10.87 victory in the U17 100m dash, while his Hilton schoolmate Tom Gurupira took the U17 100m race in 11.05, narrowly holding off Mojalefa Mogale (Maritzburg) who took the runner-up spot in 11.15.
The next leg of the Track+Field series – (a joint venture between SuperSport, SA Schools Athletics and Athletics South Africa) will be the North West leg to be held in Potchefstroom on Tuesday, 11 March.
