Pearson athletes in dominant form at high schools meeting
Pearson athletes were in dominant form when the Port Elizabeth High Schools Athletics Association Championships were held at NMU at the weekend.
The Summerstrand school picked up 27 gold medals, 22 silvers and 15 bronzes, while three athletes set new records.
On the track, Chelsea Street ran a blistering 12.25 seconds to win the girls’ U17 100m.
The other two records came in the field events, from Matthew Heath and Chante Strydom.
Heath reached a distance of 41.84m in the boys’ U19 discus and Strydom won the girls’ U15 triple jump with a leap of 9.82m.
The top athletes who obtained more than one gold medal included Kieran Frösler (boys’ U17 100m, 200m and 400m), Noah Peo (boys’ U16 800m and 1,500m), Chelsea Street (girls’ U17 100m and 200m), Mia Vermaak (girls’ U17 long jump and triple jump) and Lieben Bester (boys’ U19 triple jump and long jump).
A total of 56 Pearson athletes qualified for various events at the Metro Schools Athletics event scheduled for this weekend at the Westbourne Oval.
● On the cricket field, Pearson had the better of their declaration match, but Woodridge held on for a draw.
After Woodridge made a steady start with an opening stand of 37, Pearson off-spinner Cayden Wilson broke through with a good catch off his own bowling.
He then combined well with Pearson captain Esa Gangat and brother Sulaymaan to keep the Woodridge batters under pressure.
Wilson was the main wicket-taker with 5/36. The Gangats shared the remaining five wickets as Woodridge posted a first innings total of 131.
After an early wicket, Esa Gangat and Wilson took the game forward, but the Woodridge attack worked hard to reduce Pearson to 127/6.
Jordan Collier combined well with the Pearson lowerorder with a well-played 47 not out as Pearson took control, setting up a 112-run first-innings lead.
Esa Gangat was the top runscorer with 66 of 58 balls.
After two quick wickets by Sulaymaan Gangat in search of the five second-innings Woodridge wickets for an outright win, captain Randy Syce stood firm to guide his team to 41/2 at the end of the match.
In other matches, Pearson won the second-team game convincingly by 10 wickets and the U15A match by 8 wickets.
The U14A match was an intense battle ending in a draw.
Pearson first girls’ team had a successful tour to the Western Cape, defeating Somerset College and Stellenberg High.
In the Twenty20 match against Somerset, Savannah Finkelstein’s 29 and Amé Botha, with 4/4, set a up an emphatic 121-run victory.
The 50-over Saturday clash with Stellenberg was a much tighter affair.
Tara Nel (78) and Sesona Jodwana (38) shone with the bat for Pearson to take them a respectable total of 200.
Botha, with 5/35, was superb as they dismissed the Stellenberg team in a nail-biting encounter for 192, securing an eight-run victory.