Kansas State long jumper Tah Chikomba takes first place at NCAA championships
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- Tah Chikomba won the NCAA long jump title with a leap of 8.37 meters.
- Chikomba’s 8.37m jump broke his Kansas State school record by nearly four inches.
- Chikomba is Kansas State’s first NCAA long jump champion since 1951.
Tah Chikomba has been having a great season for the Kansas State track and field team, but he made it even better at the NCAA Championships on Wednesday night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The junior long jumper, who has already won an individual Big 12 title this year, took first place at nationals with a leap of 8.37 meters. That was good enough to break his own school record by almost four inches. It was also the longest jump at the outdoor NCAA championships since 2018.
Chikomba, who is originally from Zimbabwe, is the first K-State athlete to win a national championship in the long jump since Herb Hoskins in 1951.
“Tafadzwa Chikomba flat out got it done,” K-State track and field coach Travis Geopfert said afterward. “Came in here as the favorite, and that’s one thing, when you navigate success, and he navigated it extremely well.”
Juriad Hughes, of Arkansas, took second in the event with a jump of 8.25 meters.
K-State sophomore Uroy Ryan took third at 8.04 meters.
Chikomba spent his first two seasons of college at Meridian Community College in Mississippi. After earning several All-American honors at the junior college level, he transferred to K-State.
He finished off his first year with the Wildcats in style.
“What can I say about that guy?” Geopfert added. “I mean, a champion, an NCAA champion, a title that he’s going to have with him for the rest of his life, and just proud how he’s handled all of it.”