Ajayi, Okon, Ogazi, Udo, Adekalu one step away from NCAA Finals
Sprinters Kanyinsola Ajayi, Israel Okon and Adekalu Fakorede as well as quartermilers, Samuel Ogazi and Edidiong Udo are one step away from qualifying for the 2025 NCAA Division Outdoor Championships scheduled to hold next month in Eugene, Oregon.
The quintet, as it were, sped through their respective 100m and 400m heats in the early hours of Friday (Nigerian time) to qualify for the final of the NCAA East First Round competition holding in Jacksonville, Florida.
Ajayi, who holds a personal best of 9.96 ran 10.21 to place second in heat five behind Jackson Reid of Louisiana State University who ran 10.19 to win.
Mississippi State University’s Fakorede ran 10.30 to win his heat while Okon won heat six with 10.39 to zoom into a three-heat final on Friday.
The three Nigerians have been drawn in separate heats with Okon drawn to run from lane six in the first heat with his focus on making the top three that will automatically qualify for the NCAA final.
Ajayi will run from lane 4 in the second heat while Fakorede will also run from lane four in the third heat.
As many as 12 athletes will qualify for the NCAA final with the top 3 from each heat qualifying automatically while the next three qualifiers will be decided by time.
In the 400m, Ogazi will run from lane seven in the first of three final heats while Udo will run from lane six in the second after they both zoomed into the final in the first round.
Ogazi, the Paris 2024 Olympics 400m finalist, ran 45.72 to win heat four of the first round, Udon also sped home first (45.59) in opening heat of the event.
