USSA News Barnard and Uys break USSA Records in Pretoria Mondray Barnard and Colette Uys delivered record breaking performances on Day 2 of the USSA Track and Field Championships held at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria. The tides turned in favour of Barnard who outwitted the South African senior champion, Franco Le Roux (NWU), in the men’s 110m hurdles final. The Varsity College (USSA Ind) athlete who won the silver medal at the senior championships last week, ran a bold race to write his name in the history books, stopping the clock on 13.44 seconds to break Tiaan Kleynhans’ record of 13.60. "It was a much cleaner race (this time) than last week at SA’s. I’m very stoked about the race. The time is literally the same as what I ran last week, 13.44. So ja, I feel very good and I’m ready to go run at the world students games in Germany in July," said Barnard. Colette Uys, the University of Pretoria’s versatile field sensation, bagged double gold in the women’s hammer throw and shot put events. Her throw of 65.32m shattered the previous record (64.42) set by Marga Cumming in 2021. With a put of 17.16m in the early hours of the morning and the record breaking throw later that afternoon, Uys dominated both events in fine style. She doesn’t play small. She is in it to break her personal best performances, and it’s evident in the margins in which she wins. Her closest shot put competitor, Mignon La Grange (UJ), pushed 13.39m, while NWU’s Anje Holtzhausen had to settle for silver with a throw of 52.75m. UJ’s 20-year-old sprinting phenomenon, Precious Molepo, ran a personal best time of 52.32 seconds to win the women’s 400m final. This comes a week after she ran 52.36, meaning Molepo finds herself in world-class form again. The second-year students’ transition into the senior ranks seems to be going smoothly. She pulled fellow athletes Angelique Strydom (TUT) and Nicola Gibbon (UFS) to superb times of 52.96 and 53.34 respectively. In the 10km race walk event, seasoned walkers Tumisang Pule (TUT) and Marissa Swanepoel (NWU) controlled affairs from the gun, leading their institutions to gold in the men’s and women’s team competitions as well. Chane Kok (gold), Carolina Louw (silver) and Lana Oberholzer (bronze) took all the spots on the podium in the women’s 100m hurdles final, bagging major points for the University of Pretoria. The 2025 national 1500m senior champion Luan Munnik won the men’s 1500m, stopping the clock on 3:41.33. Christopher Swart, his training partner, finished second in 3:42.82. "Now we’re starting to work hard. (We are) Putting in a few weeks and then we’re going for a world (championship) qualifying time around 3:33 or getting it on rankings, 3:34," said Munnik. In the women’s 1500m race, Carmie Prinsloo from the University of Pretoria swapped her 5000m silver medal for 1500m gold, showcasing her commitment to her team. Zain Van Staden (NWU) won the Decathlon with 6352 points, and Micyla Botha (UP) took the Heptahtlon title, bagging 4917 points. UJ dominated both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays, running away with the gold with times of 39.68 seconds (men) and 46.15 seconds (women). With two days of competition done, UJ takes the pole position with 194 points as the student-athletes head into day 3. The University of Pretoria (178) and North-West University (176) are in second and third. Posted by Staff Writer on 03 May, 2025 Source: USSA