2023 SEC Indoor Championships: All Eyes On Ofili, Oghenebrume and Ashe

All eyes will be particularly on the sprint trio of Favour Ofili, Favour Ashe and Godson Oghenebrume when the SEC indoor championships start Friday night at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayeteville, Arkansas.

The trio will be among the Nigerian student-athletes seeking to race their way into next month’s NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ofili is coming to the SEC championships as the fastest 200m runner in the world after running a new 22.36 lifetime best two weeksago at the Tyson Invitational in Fayeteville, Arkansas.

The 20 year old will be seeking to compete in the 200m event at the NCAA Div 1 Indoor Championships for the third time in a row after making her debut in 2021.

That year, the Nigerian, like a bolt out of the blues, stormed to an incredible 22.75 finish to make history as the first Nigerian to break 23 seconds in the half lap event.

Ofili will also be in contention for a 60m ticket that will take her to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She holds a 7.15 best in the event which ranks her number three in the conference.

Like Ofili, Ashe will also be seeking a return to the NCAA indoor championships and knows he will have to run a perfect race and avoid getting disqualified again, for the second SEC Championships running.

The reigning Nigeria 100m king wants to win the 60m event and go under 6.50 for the first time. If he does, he will become the third Nigerian after Deji Aliu (6.48) and Olusoji Fasuba (6.49) to do so.

Unlike Ofili and Ashe, Oghenebrume is seeking his first appearance at the SEC championships and invariably his first NCAA indoor championships appearance.

The 19 year old has been breaking his personal best with every meet and has joined the ranked of sub-6.60 60m runners.

He will need to set another lifetime best and possibly go close to running a sub-6.50 in the event to secure a ticket to the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Also set to make her first appearance at the SEC championships this weekend is quartermiler, Ella Onojuvwevwo who has greatly impressed in her first season as a student athlete in the USA.

The 17 year old ran a new 52.61 lifetime best in New Mexico early February which shot her to eighth in the Nigerian all-time list.

The Delta state born athlete will however need to run inside 52 seconds to be able to stand a chance of returning to the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico for her first NCAA Div 1 indoor championships.