With the Conference Championships kicking off in the next three weeks, Nigerian athletes in the collegiate system are gearing up for the big event as they continue to attend their regular weekly meets with the hope of bettering their performances.
Fresh off his win from last weekend, Godson Brume competed at his school meet, LSU Alumni Gold, where he faced the reigning 100m World Silver medalist, Marvin Bracy-Williams, who was regarded as the pre-race favourite.
Brume stunned the entire field as he blazed to a slightly wind-aided 9.97s (+2.3m/s) to take the victory ahead of his teammate Da’Marcus Fleming (10.06) and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (10.13). Bracy-Williams finished 8th with a time of 10.26s.
Before the race, Brume anchored his 4x100m team to a nation-leading time of 38.36s, away from Athletics Canada (38.73s) and Minnesota (39.15s). That time is also the fourth-fastest in LSU’s history.
Over at the Crimson Tide meet in Alabama, Alaba Akintola bettered his Season’s Best (SB) to a solid 10.14s to comfortably win the men’s 100m ahead of Jekovan Rhetta (10.29s) and JaVaughn Moore (10.32s).
Akintola did not just stop there; he went on to win the 200m with an SB of 20.43s, while 2nd-place finisher, Dapriest Hogans came through with a time of 21.10s.
Esther Isa leaped to an SB of 12.89m to win the women’s Triple Jump. Isa also competed in the Long Jump where she placed 3rd with a distance of 5.97m.
Middle Tennessee’s Eloji Stephen clocked a Personal Best (PB) of 13.74s to win the men’s 110m hurdles, clearing off 0.10 from his preceding PB, making him the 2nd fastest Nigerian in the event behind Bashiru Abdullahi.
At the Michael Johnson Invitational, Rosemary Chukwuma narrowly missed the 200m World Championships standard as she won her heat in an SB of 22.72s. Mariah Ayers finished a close 2nd in 22.78s while Karimah Davis was 3rd in 22.82s.
Baylor’s Imaobong Nse Uko was also in attendance as she clocked her first sub-52 (51.66s) of the season to win her 400m heat over Shiann Salmon (52.04s.) and Sanaria Butler (52.19s).
Uko is the first Nigerian female quarter-miler to run a 51s this season. She also owns the two fastest times in the country.
Teammate Chinecherem Prosper launched his implement to a mark of 77.50m to claim the men’s Javelin throw ahead of Arthur Petersen at 77.08m. Prosper has an SB of 79.98m set at the Texas Relays.
Kennesaw’s Nicholas Mabilo raced to an impressive time of 10.26s to win the men’s 100m at the Georgia Tech Invitational, breaking his School Record (SR) in the process. Mabilo has a PB of 10.24 set last year but came into the meeting with an SB of 10.54s, which was achieved at the Texas Relays.
Kelechi Christian from Mississippi State University won her heat in a PB and SR of 11.60s in the women’s 100m.
Ashley Anumba makes it a back-to-back wins as she claimed the women’s Discus title with a throw of 58.92m at the Virginia Challenge ahead of Myrissa McFoling Young (52.15m).
Sport has always been my life, as when growing up sport has always been around me because both my parents were athletes. What also contributed to my love of sports has been the positive effects it has on our well-being, especially health-wise. Interesting and fascinating.