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Collin Matiza

Sports Editor

TWO Zimbabwean sprinters, Kundai Maguranyanga and Tinotenda Matiyenga, continued to record some fine performances in collegiate outdoor track and field events in the United States. 

Redshirt junior Maguranyanga (22) and senior Matiyenga (21) are on an athletics scholarships at Texas Christian University.

And, the weekend saw them competing in the men’s 200m and 100m events at the Texas Invitational at Austin’s Mike A. Meyers Stadium. 

A number of TCU sprinters recorded stand-out performances. 

Maguranyanga and Matiyenga also helped the TCU men’s 4x100m relay team to win gold at the same meet. 

According to reports from Texas, Maguranyanga clocked 21.07 seconds, when placing ninth in the men’s 200m event, where he joined his TCU teammates Robert Gregory (Jnr) and Derrick Mokaleng of South Africa in the top-10. 

Gregory (Jnr) kicked things off on Friday, blazing a 20.42 en route to win the men’s 200m. 

That’s his top wind-legal time of the season and ranks 13th in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and fourth in the NCAA West region entering the weekend. 

The freshman ran a 20.14 (w+4.6) in College Station, Texas, earlier last month.

Maguranyanga (21.07) and graduate student Mokaleng (21.08) joined Gregory (Jnr) in the top-10, placing ninth and 10th, respectively. 

Ten-time All-American Mokaleng kept the momentum going on Saturday, clocking a season-best 45.36 in the 400m for the 13th fastest time in the United States. TCU freshman David Seete also placed sixth in the 400m with a career-best 46.69. 

Shortly after the 400’s concluded, two Frogs, who included Matiyenga, finished in the top-five of the men’s 100m. 

Zimbabwean Matiyenga ran a team-leading 10.24, a top-20 time in the United States, while Gregory (Jnr) logged a 10.28, just .01 off his career best. 

The tandem finished in second and fourth places.

TCU now have three sprinters (Matiyenga, Gregory (Jnr), TJ Brock) inside the top-11 of the NCAA West region. 

Matiyenga and Maguranyanga also ran for TCU in the men’s 4x100m event at the same Texas Invitational meet and helped them to win a gold medal. 

The TCU men’s 4x100m team of Brock, Matiyenga, Maguranyanga and Gregory (Jnr) nearly notched a season-best time, winning the event with a good time of 39.18 seconds. 

On the hurdles, TCU’s Brittany Brown bested her previous personal record in the 100mH with a 13.40, moving up into the top-30 inside the NCAA West. 

High jumper Mason Buckmaster cleared 2.04m, recording the highest jump from a collegiate athlete at the Texas Invitational, placing second overall. 

The TCU men’s 4×400 rolled out Ethan Brown, Glenn Bender, Jostyn Andrews and Blake Hennesay who took the event with a 3:10.46. 

The event marked Brown’s first race of the outdoor season.

The TCU are home to four Zimbabwean athletes — Chengetayi “Du” Mapaya, Matiyenga, Maguranyanga and Simba Maketa — who are all on athletics scholarships.

The four were part of TCU’s men’s track and field team, which won a number of accolades, during the 2020-21 National Collegiate Athletic Association indoor season in the United States.