adminCollin Matiza
Sports Editor
THREE Zimbabwean athletes — Chengetayi “Du” Mapaya, Tinotenda Matiyenga and Kundai Maguranyanga — are this week the toast of the Texas Christian University’s men’s track and field team in the United States.
Their recent exploits, in indoor competitions, helped the college men’s track and field team to be ranked 13th in the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Association rankings.
The USTFCCCA ranked TCU’s men’s track and field team No. 13 in its second edition of the poll after last weekend’s Texas Tech Invitational indoor track and field meet at Lubbock in Texas.
According to reports from Texas, an outstanding weekend against multiple-ranked opponents in Lubbock, propelled TCU into the top-25.
The Horned Frogs found themselves outside the USTFCCCA Top-25 poll in its first set of rankings.
Given the circumstances of the season, it decided to forgo producing a pre-season ranking.
But, TCU found itself coming in at No.13, in the second edition of the USTFCCCA poll this week, thanks to the outstanding performances of three of four Zimbabwean track and field athletes who are on their books — Mapaya, Matiyenga and Maguranyanga.
Sprinter Simba Maketa, a sophomore, is the other Zimbabwean athlete who is on an athletics scholarship at TCU.
At the weekend, TCU’s Zimbabwean triple jumper Mapaya made his 2021 debut and didn’t disappoint.
The senior had something to smile about after he jumped 16.63 metres during the two-day Texas Tech Invitational indoor track and field meet; and now owns the top mark in the United States.
His mark also ranks fifth in the world.
It wasn’t just the 2019 outdoor triple jump champion that shined, as three Frogs found themselves inside the top-15 national marks in the 200m.
Another Zimbabwean athlete Matiyenga, a senior, won the men’s 200m event in 20.75 seconds and broke the Zimbabwe national indoor record for the event in the process.
The senior’s time checks in at No. 6 in the United States.
Matiyenga’s record-breaking time leads the way with highly-touted freshman Robert Gregory (Jnr) (20.78 seconds) closely behind in second place.
Maguranyanga, a junior also from Zimbabwe, ran a 20.95 for fourth place to complete TCU’s trio in the top five, all of which ran sub-21. Gregory and Maguranyanga checked in at No. 8 and No. 12, respectively.
His fellow Zimbabwean Maketa finished ninth in the men’s 200m final in 21.46 seconds and he, unfortunately, didn’t get a ranking.
Three Frogs also qualified for the men’s 60m final. TJ Brock (6.68), Matiyenga (6.69) and Blake Hennesay (6.70) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Hennesay’s time was a personal best while Matiyenga tied his collegiate-best time from the New Mexico Team Open last season.
All three sprinters find themselves in the top-25 of their event. Jais Smith, who didn’t compete in Lubbock this past weekend, is also ranked No. 26 from his 6.73 mark that won him the Aggie Invitational.
Ethan Brown clocked a 46.69 en route to third place in the 400m, putting him No. 12 in the United States.
It was just the sophomore’s third competition donning the purple and white.
In just his second collegiate race, Brown scored at the 2020 Big 12 Indoor Championship.
Online Reporter
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