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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
FOUR of Zimbabwe’s top United States-based track and field athletes, Kundai Maguranyanga, Tinotenda Matiyenga, Chengetayi “Du” Mapaya and Simbarashe Maketa, were on Sunday basking in glory after helping Texas Christian University to harvest three gold medals and breaking a meet record on the third and final day of the Big 12 Track & Field Championships at Lubbock in Texas.
The four Zimbabwean athletes are on athletics scholarships at Texas Christian University and they hogged the limelight for the Horned Frogs during the Big 12 Championships where they claimed podium places in different track and field events that they took part in.
According to reports from Lubbock, Texas Christian University collected three gold medals and broke a meet record on Day Three of the Big 12 Championships on Sunday, thanks to the exploits of Zimbabwean athletes Maguranyanga, Matiyenga, Mapaya and Maketa who were part of their men’s and women’s track and field team.
Maguranyanga and Matiyenga were part of the Horned Frogs men’s 4x100m relay team that claimed one of the three gold medals for TCU on Sunday.
The TCU men’s 4x100m relay team shined once again as they placed first and broke the meet record with a time of 38.50 seconds. The squad of Bryson Stubblefield, Matiyenga, Maguranyanga and Robert Gregory (Jnr) ran a 38.50, the fourth fastest time in the NCAA this season. The Horned Frogs are back-to-back champions in the men’s 4x100m relay.
Not to be outdone by the men’s 4x100m relay team was star Zimbabwean triple jumper Mapaya who mined TCU’s second gold medal of the day on Sunday.
Recording his third Big 12 Outdoor title was Mapaya. The senior jumped 16.84m (55-3) (1.9w) to place first and notch the second best mark in the NCAA this season. He only needed one jump to claim his third Big 12 Outdoor Championship in three seasons.
In the men’s discus, Devin Roberson became TCU’s first Big 12 Champion. Heading into his final throw, he was in fourth place. On his final attempt, Roberson threw a mark of 57.36m (188-2) to secure the win and add 10 points to TCU’s team score. Sprinter Gregory continued his outstanding sophomore season by garnering a bronze medal in the 200m with a time of 20.00. It’s the second consecutive year he has won a medal in the 200m, after earning a silver medal last year.
Also notching a bronze medal was the TCU men’s 4x400m relay team of David Seete, Maguranyanga, Maketa and Ethan Brown. They were placed third with a time of 3:05.02.
Maguranyanga also posted a Personal Best time of 10:26 seconds in the men’s 100m race at the same meet.
Collectively, the Horned Frogs earned three gold medals and three bronze medals throughout the Big 12 Championships.
In the 1500m, Gracie Morris placed fourth overall with a time of 4:24.00. Jaren Holmes notched fifth-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 16.09m (52-9.50) (1.5w). Together, Holmes and Mapaya accounted for 14 team points.
Both of TCU’s relays on the women’s side earned sixth-place finishes. In the 4×100, Tatianna Martinez, Imani Udoumana, Khyasia Caldwell and Teleda Williams clocked a 45.34. In the 4×400, Martinez, Williams, Asiah Fields and Lailah White ran a time of 3:39.93.
Matiyenga finished seventh overall in the 200m finals with a time of 20.30. In the women’s triple jump, Grace Anigbata earned herself a spot at the podium as she finished eighth with a jump of 12.92m.
Fernando Martinez broke the school record in the pole vault, clearing 5.11m (16-9.25) on this way to a ninth-place finish.
Up next for the Horned Frogs is the NCAA West Regional from May 25-28 at Fayetteville in Arkansas.
Meanwhile, the University of Texas earned both the men’s and women’s titles at the 2022 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Lubbock on Sunday.
It marked the fifth year that Texas has swept both the indoor and outdoor championships while it occurred for the sixth time in Conference history.
The Longhorn men totaled 161 points for their second consecutive title. Oklahoma followed with 127 points while Texas Tech rounded out the top-3 with 118 points. Baylor placed fourth with 86 points and Kansas finished fifth with 74.
Oklahoma State (72), Iowa State (67), Kansas State (56) and TCU (49) rounded out the remainder of the men’s team standings.
The UT women picked up their third-straight championship with 172.5 points. Texas Tech finished second with 162 points and Oklahoma followed in third with 101.5. The Baylor women also finished fourth with 92 points and Iowa State wrapped up the top-5 with 73 points.
Oklahoma State (55), Kansas (53), Kansas State (41), West Virginia (38) and TCU (29) rounded out the women’s team standings.
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