Onojuvwevwo runs 51.06 PB to punch 400m final ticket at SEC; Umukoro, Nathaniel race into Big 12 Championship final
World U20 400m finalist, Ella Onojuvwevwo became only the fifth Nigerian woman to break 52 seconds in the 400m indoors after she sped to a new 51.06 lifetime best to punch her ticket to the Southeastern Conference, SEC, final Saturday morning (Nigeria) at the Bryan-College Station in Texas.
The time catapults to third in the Nigerian all-time list behind Charity Opara (50.73) and Regina George (51.05) and above Falilat Ogunkoya (51.25) and Kudirat Akhigbe (51.81).
Meanwhile, Sprinter Success Umukoro and quartermiler, Nathaniel Ezekiel have also qualified for the final of their respective event at the Big 12 Championships holding at the TTU Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas.
Umukoro, who raced to a 7.13 lifetime best in the 60m early last month ran 7.19 to win her heat and qualify for Saturday’s final where she will be looking to secure her ticket to the NCAA Division 1 indoor Championships in a fortnight in Virginia.
While Umukoro was able to secure a spot among the final eight, other Nigerians in the event were not so lucky.
Mercy Umoibang (7.29) and Olayinka Olajide (7.38) finished 10th and 14th in the overall classification to miss out of the final.
In the men’s 400m, Nathaniel of Baylor University strolled home first in 45.29 to pick his ticket to Saturday’s final.
The Nigerian will be the cynosure of all eyes in the final after he ran 44.92 last month to set a new Nigeria record in the event, breaking the 45.51 Sunday Bada set in 1997 on his way to winning the World indoor 400m gold in Paris, France.
