During the first two weekends of March, over 25 Nigerian athletes across 4 divisions competed in Indoor Track and Field Championships in the US and Canadian collegiate circuits.
NCAA Division 1
Favour Ofili of Louisiana State University (LSU) performed well in the 60m and 200m races at this championship. In the preliminary rounds she ran a personal best (PB) of 7.14s in the 60m to finish 2nd in her heat and advanced to the finals and in the 200m dash she ran a new PB and African Record 22.11s to advance as the fastest qualifier. Ofili put up a strong fight in the 200m running 22.20 seconds but settled for the silver medal behind Julian Alfred’s 22.01s NCAA record breaking performance. In the 60m final, she ran 7.17s to finish 6th.
Ezinne Abba of the University of Texas and Rosemary Chukwuma of Texas Tech University competed in the 60m and 200m races as well. Abba ran a PB of 7.15s in the prelims and finished 9th overall, narrowly missing the Top 8 time to qualify for the final. Chukwuma had a bit of stumble out of the blocks which cost her precious time in the race and crossed the line in 7.23s seconds which was the 12th fastest time. In the 200m dash, Chukwuma ran 22.80s to finish 10th and Abba ran 23.27s to finish 16th and neither were able to advance. Ella Onojuvwevwo was part of the LSU women’s 4x400m relay team that finished 11th in the final with a time of 3:32.21s.
Udodi Onwuzurike of Stanford University put on a show in the Men's 200m preliminary round running a massive PB of 20.17s. This time was the joint fastest qualifying time for the final and put him in a great position to medal. In the final, he was not able to replicate the time and ran 20.36s to finish 5th overall. Alaba Akintola of Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) also competed in the 200m prelims and ran a would-be personal best of 20.44s which would have qualified him for the final. However, he was disqualified for a lane infringement violation.
In the Men's 60m dash, Nigeria had three representatives in the preliminary rounds. Favour Ashe tied his personal best with a time of 6.51s in the first round, which was the fastest qualifying in the prelims. However after the race, he was in notable discomfort with a lower body injury. As a result he decided to sit out the finals and forgo his chance to win back-to-back indoor 60m medals. Alaba Akintola and Godson Brume also competed in the 60m prelims running 6.61s and 6.69s seconds respectively. Neither were able to advance to the finals as they finished 12th and 16th overall.
Ezekiel Nathaniel competed in the 400m dash running a PB of 45.69s to finish 6th overall in the preliminary rounds which was enough to advance to the finals. In the final he finished 6th once again and ran a comparable 45.73s. He also competed for Baylor’s men’s 4x400m relay team that finished 5th overall with a time of 3:03.60s.
In the field events, 4 Nigerian jumpers suited up for their respective schools. Grace Anigbata of Texas Christian University (TCU) finished 10th with a PB jump of 13.58m. Onaara Obamuwagun of Texas Tech finished 11th in the Triple Jump with a PB jump of 13.55m. Esther Isa of MTSU finished 16th in the Long Jump with a leap of 5.73m. On the men’s side, Best Erhire of Texas Tech finished 13th in the High Jump clearing 2.15m.
USports (Canada)
Usheoritse Itsekiri of Regina College had an amazing weekend at the USports Indoor Track and Field Championships (the Canadian alternative to the NCAA). Competing in the 60m dash, he opened the preliminary round running 6.71s to advance to the final. In that final round, he did not disappoint, he blazed to a new PB of 6.61s to secure a 1st place finish and a gold medal. He later joined his team’s 4x200m relay team and helped secure a gold medal in that event as well.
NAIA
In the NAIA Indoor Championships, Praise Idamadudu of Cumberland University competed in the 60m dash running 7.37s in the preliminary rounds advancing as the 2nd fastest qualifier. In the final round, she finished 2nd and earned a silver medal with a time of 7.43s. In the 200m race, Idamadudu was joined by Joy Abu of William Carey University (WCU). Both sprinters advanced to the finals after running 24.01s and 24.48s respectively. In the final round, they both shared the podium, with Idamadudu running 23.96s for 2nd place and Abu running 24.28s for 3rd place.
Abu earned another medal in the 400m dash after running 54.88s in the qualifier and 54.95s in the final to earned another bronze medal. In the 60m hurdles Abu had one of the fastest qualifying times, running 8.46s but, ran out of steam in the final finishing 8th with a time of 8.66s. She was able to grab one more medal in the championship helping WCU’s 4x400m relay team earn a silver medal in the finals, bringing her grand total to three for the weekend.
In the field events, Princess Kara of Indiana Wesleyan University won the gold medal in the Shotput setting a new PB of 15.25m. She also competed in the Weight Throw finishing 19th with a throw of 15.90m. Iredia Goodness who jumps for Cumberland University won the silver medal in the Men’s Long Jump breaking 7.40m. He also finished 8th in the Triple Jump leaping to 14.80m.
NJCAA
Many athletes competed in the Indoor National Championships at the Junior College level between March 2nd and 4th. Success Umukoro of South Plains College and Miracle Thompson of Cloud City College did battle in the 60m dash. Umukoro came into the championship as the #1 ranked 60m sprinter in Junior College and ran a PB of 7.35s in the opening round to qualify for the final with the fastest time. Thompson ran 7.47s in the prelims to advance to the next round as well. In the final, Umukoro crossed the line first at 7.36s securing a gold medal. Meanwhile, Thompson ran a PB of 7.43s to finish 3rd and earn a bronze medal. Umukoro also competed in the 200m running 24.17s in the preliminary round then followed it up with a 24.04s time in the final to finish 4th, just 0.01 seconds shy of the bronze medal.
Miracle Thompson competed in the 60m hurdles along with Ese Awusa from New Mexico Junior College. Thompson breezed to the top qualifying time of 8.27s and Awusa ran 8.55s to advance to the final. Thompson improved her time in the final to 8.25s but narrowly missed the gold medal by milliseconds. Awusa also improved her final time, running 8.52s and finishing 5th. In the women’s 4x400m relay, Umukoro and Thompson competed once again for their schools. Umukoro and South Plains finished 2nd overall in the relay while Thompson and Cloud City College finished 3rd overall; Thompson’s third medal of the Championships.
On the men’s side, Ayomide Oyetunji of Iowa Central College has been one of Nigeria’s fastest 60m runners this season. In the preliminary round he ran 6.73s, the 4th fastest overall qualifier, and moved on to the finals. He finished 8th in the final round with a time of 6.78s. Vincent Ugwoke, a thrower for Cloud City College, finished 5th in the Weight Throw tossing the implement 17.16m. He also competed in the Shotput placing 13th with a distance of 13.34m.
Overall, 8 athletes earned 15 medals in these Indoor Championships with many others advancing to the final round of their events. The athletes represented Nigeria well and will look to press on to greater success in the Outdoor season for their universities.
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