Namibian track and field stars gear up for tough meets in Windhoek

Namibian athletics fans will be in for a great treat this weekend as top junior and senior athletes slug it out at the Coca-Cola Frank Fredericks Invitational Meet and the Bank Windhoek Senior National Championships in Windhoek.

With both events serving as the final local qualifying events for upcoming international events, some top performances can also be expected, according to Namibia Sport.

Amongst the senior athletes, Rodger Haitengi, Tjipekapora Herunga and Hitjiverue Kaanjuka should be the star attractions.

Triple jumper Haitengi has been in hot form of late and broke his own Namibian record of 16,35m with a new mark of 16,38m at the Yellow Pages Series in Johannesburg on March 24.

Four days before that he came second at the South African Championships in Durban with a distance of 16,14m.

Herunga set a new Namibian 200m record at the South African Championships on March 20 when she broke Marian Basson's 22-year-old mark of 24,12 seconds with a new time of 23,72 seconds.

Herunga also came close to breaking her own Namibian 400m record of 52,46 seconds when she came second at the Yellow Pages Series in Potchefstroom in 53,29 seconds.

Kaanjuka excelled at an Inter-Club Meeting in Germiston on March 12 when he won the 100m in 10,39 and the 200m in 21,15, coming close to his personal best times of 10,30 and 20,80 seconds. He also surpassed the B qualifying standards for the African Championships which take place in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of July, in both events.

Other top performances can be expected of Daniel Nghipandulwa who recently improved his 1 500m personal best time by close to six seconds to 3:52,50, while an exciting duel can be expected between Solomon Tuaire and Hans von Lieres, who have both cleared 2,15m in the high jump.

The Bank Windhoek Senior National Championships will start at 08h00 at Windhoek's Independence Stadium on Saturday morning.

Schools Champs

Namibia's top junior athletes will battle it out for honours at the Coca Cola Frank Fredericks Meet at the Independence Stadium, from 15h00 to 18h00 on Friday.

The top eight athletes in each item were selected following the National Schools Championships on March 27 where some impressive results were posted.

A total of 740 athletes from 13 regions competed at the championships which saw a total of ten new records established.

The junior victrix ludorum was Chene Bester of Oshikoto who won the girls 14-15 200m hurdles in 32,09 seconds, and came second in the 80m hurdles in 13,09 seconds.

Efraim Ndifan of Otjozondjupa won the junior victor ludorum trophy after coming third in the boys 14-15 100m in 11,74 seconds; first in the 200m in 23,50 seconds and first in the long jump in 6,07m.

The senior victor ludorum was FC Pieterse of Khomas, while Jolene Jacobs of Khomas was the senior victrix ludorum.

Pieterse excelled in the boys 16/17 year old category winning three gold medals. He won the 100m in 10,65 seconds, the 200m in 21,92 seconds and the 110m hurdles in 14,59 seconds.

Jacobs won three silver medals in the girls' 18/19 year old category. She came second in the 100m in 12,71 seconds, second in the 200m in 25,75 seconds and second in the 100m hurdles in 16,56 seconds.

The top female performers in the various age group categories were Kirsten Kruger of Erongo (Girls 12-13), Chrisline Gaes of Otjozondjupa (Girls 14-15), Cornel Britz of Khomas (Girls 16-17) and Jolene Jacobs of Khomas (Girls 18-19).

The top male performers were Eben Bezuidenhout of Khomas (Boys 12-13), Efraim Ndifan of Otjozondjupa (Boys 14-15), FC Pieterse of Khomas (Boys 16-17) and Eben Eichab of Hardap (Boys 18-19).