Okon, Ochonogor named among top freshmen to watch at 2025 NCAA DI indoor track and field championships
Nigeria’s Israel Okon and Prestina Ochonogor have been named among the top freshmen to watch later this week at the 2025 NCAA DI indoor track and field championships in Virginia.
According to the NCAA website, a total of 40 freshmen — 18 women and 22 men — will be participating in the competition and Okon and Ochonogor make the list of some of the top freshmen who could make it to the podium.
Okon, who joined Auburn University soon after the Paris 2024 Olympics tops the list of the 16 men competing in the 60m event. The Nigerian is joint leader (with another Nigerian, Kanyinsola Ajayi) in the event with the 6.51 lifetime best he ran at the Southeastern, SEC, championships a fortnight ago.
The time is not just the fastest ran by any Collegiate athlete pre-indoor championship but also the joint fastest by an African and the joint ninth fastest in the world so far this year.
It is also the joint sixth fastest ever by an African man and the fourth fastest by a Nigerian.
The time makes Okon one of the favourites for the gold medal, a feat no Nigerian has ever achieved in the 60m event in the history of the Championships.
The only time a Nigerian won something close to that was when Augustine Olobia ran 6.17 to win the 55m (55m replaced the 60 yards before the 60m) in 1991.
Ochonogor only moved to the USA this year but the 18 year old wasted little time in serving notice of a big star in the making destined to rule the long jump event in the NCAA.
The Paris 2024 Olympics and World U20 Championships finalist is ranked the sixth best in the NCAA indoor ranking so far this year but the 2024 African Games bronze medalist has been tipped as one of the contenders for a podium appearance.
Ochonogor will be seeking to become the second Nigerian woman after Blessing Okagbare (2010) to win the NCAA D1 indoor championships gold.
