Okonkwo secures three wins, including 200-meter meet record, with host Broncos capturing both team crowns for the first time since 2013

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Chioma Okonkwo had a front-row seat last year as her brother, Matthew Okonkwo, played a hero’s role on Murrieta Mesa’s 4x400-meter relay team that lifted the Rams to a state championship.

Matthew is now a freshman at UC Davis, and apparently, Chioma is grabbing some glory for herself and the Murrieta Mesa girls.

Okonkwo was the only athlete, male or female, to win three events Saturday, and they all came in dramatic fashion for the Murrieta Mesa senior at the Inland Empire County Championships at Vista Murrieta High.

Vista Murrieta won the team accolades, sweeping varsity titles on both sides for the first time since 2013. But Okonkwo was terrific, setting personal bests in winning both the 200 meters – her time of 24.19 seconds was the lone meet record set Saturday – and the 400, which was the race of the day.

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In the 400, she ran a time of 55.201 seconds, rallying in the final 50 meters to overtake Corona’s Egbe Ndipagbor (55.207). It was also one of the most star-studded fields, with three of the top eight performers in California in Okonkwo, Ndipagbor and Roosevelt’s Naomi Johnson, who placed third in 55.78.

“Overall, I’m thankful because coming into this season, my goal was just to run 56 or 55 and just to push it,” Okonkwo said. “So now that I did that, it’s time to change my goals.”

Okonkwo said she tried a different strategy in the 400, and it made a difference, especially at the end.

“So usually I get out and fast and trust it,” Okonkwo said. “Previously, I would press the backstretch and my coach suggested that I float and then start pressing at the 150 (mark).”

Okonkwo and Ndipagbor (24.45) also went 1-2 in the 200.

Vista Murrieta won both team titles, with the boys tallying 105.33 points to second-place King’s 45 and third-place Murrieta Mesa’s 39 to secure its first crown since 2016. For the girls, the Broncos won for the second time in three years, accumulating 67.5 points, with Rancho Cucamonga placing second with 50 and Mesa taking third with 46.

Four other athletes were double winners in Saturday's meet. Rancho Cucamonga’s Mark Perry was perhaps the most notable, as he won the 100 in 10.73 after anchoring the Cougars’ winning 4x100 relay team (41.32).

That meant Perry, who ran a controlled and consistent race, emerged from a field that included three of the state’s top 25 marks in the invitational 100. One that wasn’t was second-place finisher and teammate Kalel Jackson, who ran 10.83.

“It’s a big advantage,” Perry said of having his teammate in each of his races. “We kind of base our race off each other.”

King senior Reyte Rash swept the hurdles races Saturday, as he outlegged Vista Murrieta’s Hunter Escorcia to win the 110 in 14.54, He won the 300 easily in 38.25.

Heritage’s Deondre Ruth swept the horizontal jumps, topping the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 4 inches (7.11m) and the triple jump in 46-9 (14.24m).

And Elsinore senior Soley Lymon won the shot put with an effort of 39-1.75 (11.93m) and discus in a personal-best 119 feet (36.27m), with her winning toss coming on her final throw to help her elevate from seventh place to champion.

“I was calm, and I wasn’t really stressing about where the distance was,” Lymon said. “I just wanted to have good form, and it was the last one, so it was all or nothing.”

Vista Murrieta sophomore Darius Hill came close to a double, winning the high jump in 6-5 (1.95m) and placing second to Ruth in the long jump at 23-2.50 (7.07m).

But what entertained onlookers was watching Hill in his back-and-forth afternoon, when he’d compete in the high jump, then run to the other end of the track to do a long jump, then come back and repeat the process.

“I’m not going to lie; I was really nervous about having to go back and forth,” Hill said. “I thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it.”

As a team, the Broncos swept the boys’ throws, with Alex Oyawale winning the shot put with a mark of 50-6.25 (15.39m) and Edward Ta’amilo topping the discus with a third-round throw of 163-5 (49.80m).

Juniors Makayla Fick (1,600, 5:07.49) and Sierra Meier (high jump, 5-1) also earned victories for the host Broncos, as did senior Nicole Silverlake, who outdueled Murrieta Valley’s Madison Kast to win the pole vault. Both cleared 11-9 (3.58m) and missed all three attempts at 12-3 (3.73m), but Silverlake won based on fewer earlier misses.

Meier also benefited from being clean at her opening heights to secure victory against Aaliyah Mendoza of Etiwanda. Both athletes cleared 5-1 (1.54m) on their third attempts, but Meier cleared each of her first two bars without a miss. 

And then there was the surprise. After running a personal-best 10.86 in the 100, Serrano senior Jesus Chavez won the 200, despite not being in the seeded race, in another personal-best in 21.82.

He didn’t take it personal for not being in the seeded race. Chavez pointed out that he still runs on a dirt track at Serrano, but he would’ve liked to have been in it.

“It would’ve pushed me more,” he said.

Roosevelt senior Jakob Ernst won the pole vault in a personal-best and school-record 15-5 (4.69m), bolting out of Vista Murrieta afterward to go to his prom.

“Today, I think it was just the right day,” Ernst said. “It’s hot, I had a tailwind behind me, and it was all nice. And honestly, it’s a big factor in pole vault. You just have to do it.”

Other boys winners Saturday were Rubidoux senior Kevin Ramos, who cruised to the 1,600 title in 4:20.69, Aris Valerio of Murrieta Mesa, who won the 800 in 1:56.02, Roosevelt junior Raul Chavez in the 3,200 (9:23.80) and Corona Centennial’s Gregory Lapit in the 400 (49.37).

For the girls, Etiwanda’s Kennedi Porter won the 100 in 12.15, with Rancho Cucamonga’s DeAira Jackson (100 hurdles, 15.03) and Roosevelt’s Myah Hatcher (300 hurdles, 44.91) also earning victories.

King’s Sheredyn Pfeiffer won the long jump with an effort of 17-1.50 (5.21m), with Sultana’s Autumn Johnson prevailing in the triple jump with a leap of 38-8 (11.78m). Tiani Goeson of Serrano won the 3,200 in 11:10.83.

And Citrus Valley capped the girls’ meet with a rousing victory in the 4x400 relay in 4:00.98.