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06 March 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Varsity Sports
Tharina van der Walt
Tharina van der Walt, a first-year student, won the hammer-throw item at the first Varsity Athletics meeting in Stellenbosch on Friday – the only gold medal for the Kovsies.

Hammer thrower Tharina van der Walt was the bright spark for the University of the Free State (UFS) at the first Varsity Athletics meeting in Stellenbosch on Friday.

Van der Walt, who recently turned 19 and is one of three first-year students in the UFS team of 25 athletes, bagged the only gold medal for the Free State students. She won the hammer throw with a distance of 53,12 m.

The UFS ended in fourth place behind NWU (first), UJ (second), and Tuks (third).

Six athletes achieved second places. Both Sokwakana Mogwasi (100 m) and Ts’epang Sello (800 m) came within a whisker of claiming victory.  Mogwasi lost the 100 m by 00:04 seconds, but in the process improved her personal best from 11,89 to 11,58. Sello (2:08,47) was in the lead for most of the 800 m but was eventually defeated by Niene Muller of Tuks by less than half a second.

Mogwasi was also second in the 200 m with a fast 24,92. Other silver medals were obtained by Yolandi Stander in the discus (52,70 m), Peter Makgato in the long jump (7,66 m), and Marné Mentz in a very fast 1500 m race. Mentz (04:26,63) chopped more than five seconds off her previous best time of 4:32,00. Her time was the third fastest ever in the 1 500 m at Varsity Athletics.

There were three third places: Sefako Mokhosoa (15,47 – triple jump), Petrus Jacobs (14,55 – 110 m hurdles), and the women’s 4x100 m relay team (Mogwasi, Elsabé du Plessis, Joviale Mbisha, and Micháela Wright).

Four athletes just missed out on podium positions, achieving fourth places.

The second Varsity athletics meeting will take place in Potchefstroom on 15 March 2019.

News Archive

Five Kovsies take part in exclusive Summer School in Groningen
2012-07-25

Michael van Niekerk, Christiaan Nel and Carika Stols participated in the School for Neurosciences.
26 July 2012

For five students from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State, the winter holidays were no time to rest; they attended a summer school for medical students in Groningen in The Netherlands.

Michael van Niekerk, Marcel Nel, Henk Kruger, Christiaan Nel and Carika Stols are all undergraduate medical students who expanded their skills and knowledge during the summer school.

The University of Groningen’s Medical School offers an annual Summer School Programme at the University Medical Centre in Groningen.

It is the largest hospital in the province of Groningen in The Netherlands and offers highly specialised health services to The Netherlands and to the northern parts of Germany.

Hordes of students from around the world annually apply for attendance of the school. A panel invites eligible candidates from the applications to participate in the school. The students are then divided into four different schools, namely Paediatrics, Neurosciences, Global Health and Oncology.

“Besides acquiring better skills and knowledge, the schools also provide us the opportunity to exchange experience and knowledge with participants from other countries. We had regular conversations with students from Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Brasilia, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Egypt, Belgium, Italy and Spain, on the difference between the medical systems and cultures of the various countries,” says Henk Kruger, who, together with Marcel Nel, participated in the School for Paediatrics.

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