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Collin Matiza, Harare Bureau
TWO of Zimbabwe’s United States-based track and field star athletes Kundai Maguranyanga and Cloud Masibhera opened the new year with a bang when they both claimed the first step on the podium in the men’s 200 metres and long jump events respectively during the Graduate Classic at Lincoln in Nebraska at the weekend.

Maguranyanga (20) and Masibhera (21) are on athletics scholarships at Drake University in Iowa where they are under the guidance of former Zimbabwe star long jumper Ngonidzashe Makusha.

Makusha, a bronze medallist for Zimbabwe in the men’s long jump at the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, is now an assistant coach for sprints, hurdles and jumps at Drake University.

And at the weekend two of his athletes at Drake University, Maguranyanga and Masibhera, set the stage alight during the Graduate Classic track and field indoor meet where they both came first in the men’s 200m and long jump events respectively.

According to reports from Lincoln, the Drake track and field team continued their open to the 2019 portion of their schedule on Saturday afternoon at the Graduate Classic hosted by Nebraska.

The afternoon session was highlighted by Maguranyanga winning the men’s 200m event in 21.20 seconds.

Maguranyanga’s time was the second-fastest in school history and the fastest by a Bulldog since 1990 when Drake legend Kevin Little clocked a 20.90 finish.

On Saturday, Maguranyanga was followed home by his Drake University teammate Aobakwe Malau of Botswana who clocked 22.63 while another Bulldog, Belgian Aaron Chier, came third in 23.44.

After running in the men’s 200m event, Maguranyanga and his fellow African athlete Malau helped the Drake University’s 4x400m relay team to finish third at the same meet.

By winning the men’s 200m race, Maguranyanga emulated fellow Zimbabwean and teammate at Drake University, Masibhera, who came out tops in the long jump event the previous day at Nebraska’s Devaney Sports Centre.

Masibhera won the long jump with a leap of 23-10 (7.29 metres).

Masibhera’s winning mark came on his first jump of the competition and the sophomore passed on his final two attempts to win by nearly eight inches.

The Bulldogs resume their indoor schedule January 25-26 in Iowa City, Iowa.

Maguranyanga and Masibhera, who both joined Drake University at the beginning of last year, have now settled down at the Iowa-based college and they are both aiming at qualifying for the 2019 Doha IAAF World Championships and probably the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

In fact, both Maguranyanga and Masibhera are strong candidates for Team Zimbabwe for this year’s IAAF World Championships in Doha.

The 2019 IAAF World Championships are scheduled to run from September 27 to October 6.

And it is Maguranyanga’s eye-catching performance in the men’s 200m event at the Graduate Classic which has once again sent a strong message that he is determined to punch his ticket for the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Apart from athletics, Maguranyanga is studying for a degree in Software Engineering at Drake University.