NMJC M-T&F Finish National Runner-Up at Outdoor Championships

The Thunderbird men's track & field team finished national runner-up to South Plains College at the 2024 NJCAA DI Men's Outdoor T&F Championships in West Monroe, Louisiana on Saturday, May 18.

The T-Birds were in third place with 36 points following the completion of Day 2. They ended Day 3 with 107 points coming just nine points shy of South Plains, who won the championship with 116 points.

The first national champion on Saturday for NMJC was Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa in the 400m. The Harare, Zimbabwe native won the 400m title this year with a time of 45.06. The finish broke his 45.42 school record by .36 seconds and was .06 seconds away from qualifying him for the Paris Olympics this summer. 

Chiyangwa overcame an injury that sidelined him during the 2023 outdoor championship. The sophomore is now the 2024 indoor and outdoor 400m national champion. He has three individual titles overall at NMJC as he won the 2023 400m indoor national title. 

Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu completed the double in the 100m and 200m dash on Saturday afternoon. The sophomore sprinter also accomplished the same feat in the 60m and 200m during the indoor season.

Makarawu posted a 10.04 in 100m to defeat his nearest competitor by .04 seconds, which earned himself back-to-back outdoor 100m titles. He followed up his 100m performance with a national-champion winning run of 20.08 in the 200m to cruise to a .09 second win over the closest finisher.

Makarawu's storied NMJC career came to a close with him earning seven individual national titles in his two years with the program. He won the 60m and 200m indoor titles in 2023, the 100m title in 2023, the 60m and 200m indoor titles in 2024, and completed the double again with the 100m and 200m outdoor titles in 2024. 

"Carlie is amazing," NMJC track & field assistant/sprints coach Tabarie Henry said. "I call him a warrior because before we ran, he had a freak accident on the track where he collided with someone and twisted his ankle. We thought he may not be able to run but we taped it up and got the treatment. Carlie went out there and won both, which was incredible given the circumstance."

The final national champion for the T-Birds on Saturday came via the mile relay. The T-Birds have not won the 4x400m national title in the two years that Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa and Aymane El Haddaoui have raced for NMJC. The relay has finished runner-up during the 2023 indoor, did not place top eight in the 2023 outdoor due to a Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu injury on the final leg, and then came in third place in the 2024 indoor race. 

This time it was meant to be for the T-Birds. The quartet of Bovel McPherson, Aymane El Haddaoui, TK Pahuwa, and Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa won the 4x400m national title with a time of 3:05.70 They defeated second place Indian Hills by .57 seconds to win the final race of the afternoon.

"We told the relay team they needed to win for us to have a chance to win the team title," Henry said. "They were warming up during the 5000m when the twins were running so they were unaware that first was unattainable after the twins finished. I told Donald who was anchoring to not worry about the time just go out there and try and win it. It was good to see those boys win because they hadn't won the 4x400m in the last two years at nationals."    

Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu, Shamarie Roberts, Ezekiel Newton, and Kimarlie Stewart finished national runner-up in the 4x100m with a time of 39.91. The All-American relay finish was .16 seconds behind South Plains and earned NMJC eight points. Makarawu recorded 28 points for NMJC in only three events if you account the runner-up finish as eight points.

Freshman Bovel McPherson ran a 45.86 in the 400m to finish national runner-up in the race to teammate Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa. The All-American finish was a career best for McPherson and added eight points to the Thunderbird total.

Sophomore Aymane El Haddaoui placed third in the 400m.The T-Birds went 1-2-3 in the 400m with El Haddaoui running a 46.01 to secure six more points. NMJC scored the maximum 24 points with their 1-2-3 finish in the 400m race. 

"Donald winning the 400m was amazing and all three of those boys have been putting in the work (Chiyangwa, McPherson, and El Haddaoui)," Henry said. "They set the tone, and we needed those points. We had been manifesting that we could go 1-2-3 at nationals and we did. Overall, it was a sight to see us taking back home all the sprints national titles."

Alex Keter broke the school record in 800m with his third-place finish of 1:48.75. The previous record of 1:50.11 was set by Evans Pololet in 2023. The sophomore's All-American performance tallied six points to the team total.

Tomas Vega completed his final race in an NMJC uniform with a seventh-place finish of 14:39.13 in the 5000m. Tomas's All-American performance earned NMJC two points. He finished the 2024 outdoor championship as a four-time All-American scoring 20 points himself. 

German Vega came across the line behind his brother in eighth place with a time of 14:42.16 in the 5000m to add a point. German ended the outdoor championship as a three-time All-American with 14 points total.  

The T-Birds closed the 2024 track season with runner-up finishes at the indoor and outdoor championships.