Nigeria’s Ngozi Onwumere is steadily improving in her 200m, running a new Personal Best of 23.22s (+1.1) at the Mt Sacs Relays in California, USA.
Onwumere finished 3rd best overall across all heats, having finished 2nd in Heat 1, behind Ashton Purvis who won in 23.19s (+1.1) and placed 2nd overall. Latessa Johnson who won Heat 2 in 23.09s (+2.6) was the overall 200m winner.
This year, Onwumere has been lowering her time, further improving from last week’s win at the San Antonio Cardinal Invitational in Texas where she clocked 23.43s. If she doesn’t suffer any hiccup in the course of the season, it might not be long before she cracks 22s.
Another Nigerian athlete, Chioma Agwunobi was also in action in the 200m, running in the same Heat 1 with Onwumere, a where she finished 8th in the race and 12th overall, clocking 23.73s (+1.1).
Meanwhile, 2015 National 100m Silver medallist, Stephanie Kalu finished 4th in Heat 4 of the women’s 100m, clocking 11.57s, which saw her finish 17th overall. In the 200m, Kalu Did Not Finish (DNF) her race, having competed in Heat 2.
In the women’s 400m, Regina George was narrowly beaten to 1st position having won Heat 5 in 53.49s, same time as Paola Moran, winner of Heat 1. George’s original time was 53.489 before it was approximated, with Moran marginally ahead of her coming in at 53.482, thereby leaving the Nigerian to settle for 2nd overall.
George will consider this as an improvement, having won last week in Texas with a time of 54.29s. She can only hope to lower her time further as the season progresses.
It was also a good day for Nigeria in the relays as the country’s ‘Team A’ comprising of Stephanie Kalu, Regina George, Chioma Agwunobi and Ngozi Onwumere ended the competition with a win in the women’s 4x100m, beating other clubs and teams to top the event.
The quartet clocked 44.61s in Section 2 and emerged as overall winners, finishing ahead of Alabama ‘A’ (44.76s) and Sam Houston State ‘A’ (45.69s).
