Moffat Mungazi
Collin Matiza
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ONE of Zimbabwe’s top sprinters Makanakaishe Charamba has turned himself into a cult hero at Auburn University in the United States.
This follows the Zimbabwean Olympian being selected as the 2025 SEC Men’s Runner of the Year on Wednesday.
According to reports from Birmingham in Alabama, Auburn track and field senior Charamba and freshman Israel Okon were selected as the 2025 SEC Men’s Runner of the Year and SEC Men’s Freshman Runner of Year, respectively.
Charamba, an Olympic finalist in the men’s 200m event in Paris last Summer for Zimbabwe, won the SEC individual title in the 200m with a time of 20.13 seconds.
His time was the fastest indoor 200m in the world this year and the world’s seventh fastest ever.
He broke the SEC Indoor Championships meet record as well as the Texas A&M facility record.
Charamba’s win in the event was Auburn’s first since American Olympian Coby Miller won in 2000.
Charamba holds the five fastest 200m times in Auburn history and is the programme’s first-ever male SEC runner of the year (indoors or outdoors)
“Charamba had an amazing season,” Auburn track & field head coach Leroy Burrell said.
To finish the season with three competitions under 20.20 is some outstanding running. It is something that you do not see often with the indoor 200m. Competing in his first conference championships, Okon ran 6.51 in the preliminary round of the men’s 60m dash.
He matched the 24-year-old world Under-20 record ran by Mark Lewis-Francis of Great Britain in 2001. He had the fastest qualifying time during the preliminaries, tied for the fastest time in the NCAA this year and broke the Auburn freshman record.
In the finals, Okon claimed silver (6.55).
Charamba was named First Team All-SEC and Okon to Second Team All-SEC.
The men finished sixth overall, the highest team finish since 2013 and the most points (47) since 2011.
At their last outing, Charamba and Okon competed at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Virginia, Beach, Virgina, where both were awarded First Team distinctions and helped lead the men to a third-place finish. Charamba took silver in the 200m (20.16), delivering the programme’s best finish since Coby Miller won the individual title in 1999.
Okon finished second overall in the 60m, crossing in 6.52. He was Auburn’s first freshman to run in the 60m at the indoor championships since Harry Adams in 2010.
Okon is Auburn’s second consecutive indoor freshman of the year. Kayinsola Ajayi was selected last indoor season. SEC Athlete of the Year awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches.
Meanwhile, nine Auburn University athletes received All-America honors after successful performances at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, as announced by the US Track & Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday.
First Team distinctions were awarded to seniors Charamba and fellow Zimbabwean sprinter Vimbayi Maisvorewa, sophomores Kayinsola Ajayi and Ja’Kobe Tharp and freshman Israel Okon.
Second teams All-America accolades were given to seniors Maura Huwalt and Dario Matau, junior Azeem Fahmi and sophomore Ana-Liese Torian.
The top 8 individual finishers and relay teams in their respective events took home First-Team All-America honours and the individuals and relays who placed ninth through 16th earned Second-Team All-America.
Last weekend, nine student-athletes competed at the indoor championships in Virginia Beach, Virginia at the Virginia Beach Sports Centre.
The men finished third overall, their second consecutive trophy after finishing second at 2024 Outdoors, and the women were 46th.
“The congratulations go out there to the student-athletes,” Auburn track and field head coach Burrell said.
“They went out there with a mission. They competed hard and put themselves in a really good position to earn that trophy.”
Making his NCAA Indoor Championship debut, Tharp ran a collegiate best to earn an individual title in the 60m hurdles (7.45).
Tharp won the men’s first individual national title since Donald Thomas won in 2007.
His time of 7.45 broke his own school record and is tied for the eighth fastest in the world this year.
Ajayi and Okon took home second and third place trophies in the 60m, respectively. Ajayi crossed the line in 6.513 and Okon in 6.516.
Okon was Auburn’s first freshman to run at the indoor championships in the event since Harry Adams in 2010. The sprinting duo delivered the best 1-2 finish ever at NCAAs in the 60m.
SEC 200m Indoor Champion, Charamba, ran 20.16 in the event to take silver. His second-place finish was the programme’s best since Miller won a national title in 1999.
Fahmi, who took bronze in the 60m at the SEC Indoor Championships, finished the event 13th overall (6.61) to take Second Team all-America honours.
Matau posted a time of 20.81 in the 200m prelims, finishing 12th. On the women’s side, Maisvorewa was sixth in the 400m (51.66).
The Mutare-born runner made her second consecutive NCAA Indoor appearance.
During the preliminary round of the event, she broke her school record (51.51).
She delivered Auburn’s best showing in the indoor 400m since 2010.
Huwalt finished 14th in the weight throw with a mark of 21.12m. She was the Tigers’ first qualifier in the event since Madi Malone in 2023.
Torian had a strong showing in the 60m hurdles at her first national competition. She crossed the line in 8.38, finishing 13th overall. She was the first qualifier since Samantha Scarlett in 2016.
Online Reporter