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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN athlete Vimbayi Maisvorewa continues to make strides in the United States following an impressive performance at the 2023 Washburn University Rust Buster Classic indoor track and field meet that saw her winning the women’s 400m event over the weekend.

Maisvorewa was part of the Cloud County Community College women’s track and field team that took part at the event.

And she had a good day on the track when winning the women’s 400m dash in a time of 55.62seconds to add to the team’s five-event wins.

The performance saw her qualifying for the National Championship meet.

She then teamed-up with Vanessa Mercera, Passion Crews and Lela Singleton for the 4x400m relay team and they clocked 3minutes 52.53seconds to improve on their time from the previous week by nearly two seconds.

The Cloud County Community College team also had Miracle Thompson putting up an outstanding performance when breaking her own school record in the 60m hurdles when posting a time of 8.39seconds to win the event.

She also ran a qualifying mark in 60m when crossing the finish line in 7.68seconds before finishing third in the finals with a national qualifying time of 7.50seconds.

Passion Crews would also add an event win in the 600 yard run in 1minute 27.46seconds while Shackala Henry emerged tops in high jump.

The Cloud County women recorded five first-place finishes in a meet that included NCAA Division, I, II and III teams, along with NAIA and NJCAA teams.

Maisvorewa is on an athletics scholarship at Cloud County College in Kansas. She joined the college last year in January.

Some of her best moments since she joined the college include setting a new women’s national 400m record when she ran a time of 54.65seconds. The previous record was 54.91seconds set by Larissa Bakasa in 2004. Maisvorewa also broke the college’s record holder.

The Zimbabwean athlete was named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Week in April when she won the women’s 400m dash at the Rock Chalk Classic with a school-record time of 53.66seconds.

She is one of the athletes the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe is targeting for the qualification to the World Athletics Championships.

The global meet will be staged in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19 to 27.

National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president, Tendayi Tagara, said they have earmarked Maisvorewa for qualification in the 800m event.

“Maisvorewa is a good candidate for the women’s 800m event. It’s still indoor season and it’s good preparation for her for the outdoor events,” said Tagara.

The qualifying time for women’s 800m is 1minute 59.80seconds.

Maisvorewa has previously represented the country in various competitions and in 2017 she had one of her best performances when she came sixth in the 800m final at the World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

The World Championships’ qualification period for track events opened on July 31, 2022 and closes on July 30 this year.