Zimpapers Logo

State University track and field teammates during the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Championships at Durham in Northern Carolina, United States, at the weekend.
According to reports from Durham, Makusha won the long jump event on Friday with a good leap of 7,74m before he helped the FSU 4x400m relay team to a top place podium finish in the three-day championships.
The 23-year-old Zimbabwean’s exploits in both the long jump and 4x400m relay events helped the FSU men’s outdoor track and field team to sprint its way to the top spot on the conference podium just as it has done the last six consecutive seasons.
In fact, Florida State’s Makusha and Kim Williams are two of the best jumpers that ever competed for the Seminoles.
That’s why it first came as no surprise that the dynamic duo once again dominated the competition in the men’s and women’s long jump events on Friday.
In day two on Duke’s campus, both star athletes earned an ACC Championship in the long jump; Makusha with a distance of 7.74 metres and Williams with a leap of 6,27 ¼m.
Makusha is now a two-time conference champion in the event and Williams is a three-time winner.
In the same event, another Zimbabwean athlete Paul Madzivire garnered All-ACC honours with a second-place jump of 7,52¾m.
After setting the scene alight in the track events on Friday, Makusha was back under the spotlight the following day in which he competed in the 4x400m relay event.
In an exciting finale to the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Seminole men used a last-day surge to propel themselves to an incredible seventh-straight league championship in Durham on Saturday.
Trailing Virginia Tech by 141.5 to 124.5 points after 18 of 21 total events at Wallace Wade Stadium on Duke’s campus, the Makusha-led FSU men’s team needed a big 200m dash and got it by finishing in spots one, two, three and four.
Junior Maurice Mitchell, who was named the MVP of the men’s track events, earned the individual title in the race by zooming to a lifetime best time of 20.19 that tied former FSU star Walter Dix’s 2007 ACC record.
Finishing second was Brandon Byram (20,57) and Charles Clark (20,78) was third while Brandon O’Conner (20,91) place fourth.
The impressive sweep-and-then-some in the event gave FSU 29 points and pushed the team into a lead it would not relinquish.
The ‘Noles finished the three-day championship with a grand total of 174.5 points and Virginia Tech was second with 153.5 points.
“Virginia Tech has got to be a top-five team,” FSU head coach Bob Braman told reporters after Saturday’s events.
“We had some unbelievable performances and we needed every one of them; we only won by 21 points. That’s not a huge margin. I don’t know today what we could have done better here.”
For Mitchell, his time is the current world leader and the win marked his second 200m dash championship in as many seasons.
Clark won the race in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009.
As the men claimed another crown, the FSU women fought valiantly and finished second with 132.5 points. Clemson won the women’s championship with 202 points.
The women, we were just trying to do as best as we could,” Braman said.
“We didn’t double-up and triple-up our kids and we were still able to score 130 points to get second. We are really proud of both teams.”
Posting the first championship performance of the day were Kemar Hyman, Mitchell, Makusha and David Ambler.
The quartet of Seminoles raced to victory in the men’s 400m relay thanks to a time of 39.61.
The win marked Makusha’s second title of the weekend as he individually won the men’s long jump on Friday.
And it wasn’t his last.
Makusha blazed his way to a 9.97-second championship performance in the men’s 100m dash to set the ACC record.
Joining Makusha on the podium after the lightning-quick race were Mitchell (10.03) and Hyman (10.27), who finished second and third, respectively. Ambler placed sixth with a time of 10.41.
“It might have been our biggest day at the conference meet ever,” FSU head coach Bob Braman said.
“I mean Ngoni runs the fastest time in the world this year. Maurice runs the fifth-fastest time. We were really, really excited. It was a great day.”
Makusha, who won the long jump competition a day earlier and is ranked No. 1 in the nation in that event, delivered a blistering time of 9,97 in the finals to knock off last year’s champ, Mitchell, by just ,06 seconds.
It was the first time Makusha had competed in the 100m in his career. At any meet. And all the national-champion long jumper did was put up the fastest time in the world this year and break the ACC record in the process.
“Everyone went crazy,” Braman said with a laugh.
“And then everyone immediately looked at the wind. Assuming it was five meters or something. Or a hurricane.”
The tail-wind was a legal two metres. So now, along with Mitchell’s 10.03, FSU sprints coach Ken Harnden’s dynamic duo has two of the top five times in the world.
Harnden is a former Zimbabwean Olympian and is now coaching at FSU.
“The Florida coach texted Ken about 30 seconds after the race and said, ‘congrats,'” Braman said.
Yep. Running a 9,97 and 10,03 gets everyone’s attention real quick.
Along with Makusha and Mitchell, Florida State’s Kemar Hyman (10,27) finished in third place and David Ambler (10,41) finished sixth, giving the Seminoles 27 crucial points in the event.
When the 200m dash started however, FSU still trailed Virginia Tech by 17 points.
Less than 21 seconds later, the Seminoles had a double-digit lead.
A four-lane wall of garnet and gold flew down the track, led by Mitchell, who tied Walter Dix’s ACC record with a time of 20.19. Brandon Byram (20.57) finished second, Charles Clark (20.78) third and Brandon O’Connor (20.91) fourth as the Seminoles picked up 29 points in the event.
While Makusha was updating his gold medal collection, Kim Williams was doing the same for the women.
Like Makusha, Williams nabbed an ACC Championship in the long jump on Friday.
And, like Makusha, she added another on Saturday as she took the league title in the women’s triple jump for the unprecedented fourth consecutive year.
Williams’ leap of 46-1¼ on her third attempt was enough to erase the competition and set the new ACC- and Wallace Wade Stadium-record. Michelle Jenije earned the bronze medal and All-ACC honours in the triple jump with her lifetime best mark of 42-9 ½. Before Williams added to her legend, another FSU men’s performer took the top spot again; this time in an event that has been dominated by the ‘Noles over the years.
Sophomore Brandon O’Conner sprinted to his first ACC Championship in the men’s 400m dash thanks to a personal record time of 45.89.