THE first Khomas Inter Schools Athletics Championship got off to a great start over the weekend with a high turn-out of schools and athletes and four new national schools records being established.
A total of 40 schools and more than 1 800 athletes competed in the championship at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium, which served as a qualifier for the National Schools Championship in Swakopmund next month as well as the Confederation of School Sport Associations of South Africa (COSASSA) Games in Swakopmund in May.
The 16-year-old Windhoek Gymnasium learner Nico Horn led the way with an excellent distance of 67,50m in the Boys 16-17 javelin throw, which improved upon Strydom van der Wath’s former national record of 64,85m.
In the Girls 14-15 Long Jump event, Natalie Louw of WHS set a new record of 5,68m, beating the former mark of 5,48m, while Lilie Kasheeta of Jan Mohr Project School set a new record of 5,75m in the Girls 16-17 Long Jump event, beating the former mark of 5,67m.
The fourth record came in the Boys 14-15 Long Jump where Ivan Geldenhuys of WHS set a new mark of 6,72m, beating the old mark of 6,67m.
Several other athletes also came close to national records, while many athletes reached the qualifying standards for the National Schools Championship.
WHS emerged as the top school at the championship, narrowly beating Windhoek Gymnasium into second place.
WHS won 28 gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze medals for a total of 61 medals, while Windhoek Gymnasium won 27 gold, 17 silver and 20 bronze medals for a total of 64 medals.
Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaat Skool came third with a total of 21 medals in total, followed by Ella du Plessis High School (9 medals) and Augustineum High School (6 medals).
Frederick van Zyl of Windhoek Gymnasium was the Senior Victor Ludorum while Henryke Garbers of Windhoek Gymnasium was the Senior Victrix Ludorum.
Ivan Geldenhuys of WHS was the Junior Victor Ludorum, while Kaela Genis of Windhoek Gymnasium was the Junior Victrix Ludorum.
According to the national coordinator of the Namibia Schools Sport Union (NSSU), Solly Duiker, the championship was a pilot project of the NSSU to try and raise the standard of schools athletics in Namibia.
“Some of our schools had no sports going on, but when they heard of the Inter Schools Championship this year they rushed to select a team and they now know what’s expected of them. We want to get the maximum number of athletes involved at a high level competition and the response was great – we had 40 schools participating and only two in Khomas failed to participate,” he said.
“With four national records already being set at a regional event, it shows that the quality and level of competition is very high,” he added.
According to Duiker, the Khomas championship served as a qualifier for the National Schools Athletics Championship in Swakopmund on 22 and 23 April and the Cossasa Championship in Swakopmund on 12-15 May.
He said the NSSU would hold more regional championships in the coming weeks.
“We will extend this pilot project to other regions as well – on 5 March we will hold regional events in Omaheke and Hardap and on 12 March in Erongo and Otjozondjupa,” he said.
“We will try to roll out this project to all the regions next year and we also want to introduce school leagues to the other winter codes like football, netball, basketball and volleyball to enhance mass participation and to develop the skills of the athletes,” he added.
