Star sprinter rakes in the treble

KEAGAN MITCHELL

With the Western Province high schools’ athletics season coming to an end, we saw the Northern Zone team dominate the track and field events, at the Western Province championships, at Vygieskraal Stadium, in Athlone, at the weekend.

Among those athletes was Brackenfell High School’s Jayson Webber who has had a phenomenal start to the athletics season as he remains unbeaten this year.

He showed why he is the king of the track when he breezed his way to first position, in the boys’ under-16 100m, 200m and 400m, to be crowned triple champion, at the Western Province championships.

Jayson, from Parow Valley, started the year with a bang at last month’s school athletics meet, when he set Villiersdorp alight to set a new personal best of 21.70 seconds, in the 200m.

He continued his fine form when he set a new personal best of 49.33 seconds, in the 400m, at the Northern Zone Championships, last weekend, at the Green Point track.

The youngster is now one step away from reaching the South African high schools championships that will take place in Bloemfontein, later this month.

He is no stranger to the national competitions as he came fifth and third in the boys’ under-16 100m and 200m respectively at last year’s South African club championships with his main ambition to finish as the national champion.

Jayson, a member of the Bellville Athletics Club, said it is a great feeling to be crowned the triple WP champion but he also hopes to impress at the WC championships, at the Green Point track, this weekend.

“The competition was not too bad, but I felt exhausted. In the 400m I didn’t run for a new personal best time but simply to win the race.

“I was a bit nervous for the 100m because I knew I had competition. In the 200m I felt much more relaxed yet exhausted, by the time I got to the 400m I knew I was one step away of doing the triple,” he said.

The lanky sprinter’s time at the WP champs in the boys’ under-16 100m, 200m and 400m was enough to see him qualify for club nationals, in Germiston, in Johannesburg, at the end of the month.

He will hope to do the double and qualify for school nationals as well.

“At the WC champs I expect to win the triple again. To be a part of two national competitions will be a dream come true.

“I am blessed of what I have achieved thus far but I still have a long way to go,” he said.

Jayson, a former Boston Primary School pupil, competed at his first national competition in 2013 but believes 2014, when he won gold in the 200m, was something special.

“In 2013 I won the silver medal in the 150m but winning the gold the following year was something I always aimed for when growing up,” he said.

The youngster’s short-term goal is to qualify for the World Youth Championships, next year, in Nairobi, in Kenya, and his long-term goal is to qualify for the World Youth Olympics, in Buenos Aires, in Argentina, in 2018.

“I would need to work hard to get there and to continue getting good results. I believe if I can continue this good run of form my long life dream will come true,” he said.

His coach Alroy Dixon said Jayson is hard working and dedicated on the athletics track and in the classroom.

“We have been through tough times and Jayson matured emotionally, physically and most importantly, academically,” he said.