Second to none: Tech's Moad Zahafi wins NCAA title in 800
Wes Kittley had to wrangle repeatedly with the NCAA to get Moad Zahafi into a Texas Tech uniform for the 2022 track and field season.
The determination of the Tech coach and the Red Raiders' middle-distance runner paid off in the biggest way possible Friday night at the NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Zahafi won the 800 meters in 1 minute, 44.49 seconds, taking the lead with 200 meters to go and separating himself and his closest pursuers.
The 24-year-old Tech graduate student from Casablanca, Morocco, put together an outdoor season that helped make up for an indoor season that ended in disappointment. Zahafi was ranked No. 2 among collegians during the winter, but at the NCAA indoor meet, he was sick before the 800-meter final, then got pushed off the track and didn't finish the race.
This time, there was no one close enough to bump him as he pulled away down the stretch at Hayward Field.
"I came to this meet with only one goal, like everyone else, is to win," Zahafi said by phone. "So after the fall in the indoor season, I wanted the revenge. I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to go back and finish my season with Texas Tech with a win.
"So I'm grateful. I'm happy. I'm happy with the team. I'm happy with the staff, with everyone helping me this season, so I'm really proud."
The runners who finished second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh ran personal records, and the one who finished third clocked a season-best.
Zahafi did neither and beat them all, easily.
There was a sizable gap between him and second-place finisher Navasky Anderson from Mississippi State, who overtook Texas A&M's Brandon Miller just before the finish line. Their times were 1:45.02 and 1:45.09.
"After 500 (meters), I feel my legs are strong and I started kicking," Zahafi said.
Zahafi has been the class of the 800 meters this outdoor season since he ran 1:43.69 two months ago in Florida, the fastest time in the world this year and third-best in NCAA history.
It almost didn't happen. Tech began recruiting Zahafi in 2020, intending to have him on the team in 2021, but travel restrictions related to COVID-19 prevented that. Then, his five-year window for NCAA eligibility having expired, Zahafi needed a waiver to compete in 2022.
"We got turned down twice," Kittley said, "but we did it three times. I kept giving new information, and the NCAA finally gave it to us. So it was a fight to get him eligible, because he had already graduated from college (in Morocco) and was going to be a graduate transfer. It was not his fault that he couldn't get out of the country when you had COVID, and they finally agreed.
"We proved ... I had to find texts or e-mails from the other schools, and everything that he had, to show that everyone was recruiting him earlier, but we just couldn't get him out of the country."
Kittley said an NCAA panel denied the waiver request for Mahafi in October and again in November, then relented in December.
"That's probably the greatest thing I did was be persistent," Kittley said. "I'll tell you, he's a joy to coach. He's just a flat joy. He listens to you. He's just a fabulous kid."
Zahafi became the Red Raiders' first NCAA champion in the 800 since Jonathan Johnson in 2004. Johnson won his NCAA title in Austin and then won the 800 at the U.S. Olympic Trials a month later in Sacramento.
Zahafi plans to compete in the IAAF World Championships scheduled for July 15-24 back at Hayward Field in Eugene. He also ran in the World Championships for Morocco in 2019 at Doha.
Friday was the third day of the four-day NCAA meet and the last day of the men's competition. Tech and North Carolina A&T tied for ninth place in the team standings with 22 points. Florida won the title with 54 points, followed by Texas with 38. Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia and LSU were next with 34, 33, 32 and 31, respectively.
Zahafi provided 10 of Tech's 22 points, and eight came from Malik Metivier, another transfer finishing his college career with the Red Raiders. Metivier took second in the 400-meter hurdles in 49.13.
LSU's Sean Burrell ran 48.70 to win the event for the second year in a row.
"He's a warrior," Kittley of Metivier. "When it comes to the pressure, he comes through. When you get to a big meet like this, you want a Malik on your team, because he knows how to handle the pressure and knows how to handle all the tough things you have to go through when you get to a big meet like this."
The top eight finishers at NCAA national meets are accorded first-team all-America status with the next eight being recognized on the second team. Chris Welch achieved the first-team all-America tier with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Welch, a junior from Dickinson, went 53 feet, 3/4 inch on his first attempt.
In the high jump, Texas-Arlington's Bryson DeBerry got sixth, Tech's Caleb Wilborn from Coronado placed 12th and South Florida's Romaine Beckford was 13th. DeBerry went to Plainview High School, and he and Beckford both competed for South Plains College.
Another South Plains ex, Khaleb McRae anchored the Alabama 1,600-meter relay that finished third and broke their school record for the second time in three nights with a time of 3:00.17.
TEXAS TECH AND AREA ATHLETES' SCHEDULES
All times CDT
Friday's Results
MEN
Field Events
High jump: 6. Bryson DeBerry, UT-Arlington (formerly Plainview and South Plains College), 7 feet, 1 3/4 inches; 12. Caleb Wilborn, 7-0 1/2; 13. Romaine Beckford, South Florida (formerly South Plains College), 7-0 1/2.
Triple jump: 6. Chris Welch, 53-0 3/4 (wind: 0.3 meters per second); 15. Safin Wills, Purdue (formerly Texas Tech), 52-0 1/2; 18. Jalen Seals, 51-10 1/2 (wind: 0.8 mps).
Running Events
800: 1. Moad Zahafi, 1 minute, 44.49 seconds.
400 hurdles: 2. Malik Metivier, 49.13.
200: 8. Courtney Lindsey, 20.67.
WOMEN
Combined Events
Heptathlon: 21. Callie Jones, 3,204 points through first four events of seven.
Saturday's Events
WOMEN
Note: Each athlete is shown with ranking in NCAA Division I and season-best mark or time. An "x" means the athlete must qualify through the previous round. An "a" means mark or time is converted to account for performances at higher altitude.
Field Events
High jump: 5. Sidney Sapp, 6 feet, 2 1/4 inches, 4 p.m.
Discus: 3. Seasons Usual, 195-2; 28. Malin Smith, 183-8, 4:05 p.m.
Triple jump: 4. Ruth Usoro, 45-9; 7. Ruta Lasmane, 45-3 1/2, 4:50 p.m.
Combined Events
Heptathlon: Callie Jones, remaining three events with start times from 12:30 p.m. to 6:13 p.m.
Running Events
100-meter hurdles: Demisha Roswell, 5:12 p.m.
100: Rosemary Chukwuma, 5:22 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Second to none: Texas Tech's Moad Zahafi wins NCAA title in 800
