Maguranyanga dashes to victory in USA

Collin Matiza, Harare Bureau
UNITED States-based Zimbabwean sprinter, Kundai Maguranyanga, stole the limelight at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship at Cedar Falls in Iowa on Sunday where he won both the men’s 60 and 200-metre titles.

According to reports from Cedar Falls, Maguranyanga, now a sophomore (second-year student) at Drake University in Iowa, United States, became the first Bulldog since 2001 to sweep the sprint titles.

A former pupil at Pamushana Mission in Masvingo, he overcame a slow start in the 60 metres before storming back to win in 6.78 seconds, a day after recording the second-fastest time in school history of 6.73 seconds during the qualifying heats.

The 20-year-old Zimbabwean sprinter dominated the 200 metres event, leading from wire-to-wire in 21.37 seconds.

His teammate at Drake University Viktor Peka also scored in both events for the Bulldogs with a seventh-place finish in the 50m and a fourth-place showing in the 200m.

The pair also teamed-up to run legs on the Bulldogs’ fourth-place finish (3:17.59) in the men’s 4x400m relay.

Illinois State swept the men’s and women’s titles with 159 and 173 points respectively.

Another Drake University-based Zimbabwean athlete Cloud Masibhera also had a good outing at the same meet as he finished as first runner-up in the men’s triple jump event.

Masibhera (21), a former Churchill High School pupil in Harare, recorded a leap of 49-7.75 (15.13m) on his second jump and then retired from competition due to a minor injury.

His jump led the competition until it was surpassed in the final round.

He also secured a 10th place finish in the long jump event with a leap of 6.71m and said afterwards that his overall performance at the weekend was “a learning curve!”

At Drake University, Maguranyanga and Masibhera are under the guidance of fellow Zimbabwean Ngoni Makusha.

Makusha, a bronze medallist for Zimbabwe in the men’s long jump at the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, is now an assistant coach for sprints, hurdles and jumps at Drake University.

He recently told our Harare Bureau that his main aim this year is to help both Maguranyanga and Masibhera to qualify for the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Qatar in September.