Udodi Onwuzurike named PAC-12 Men's Track Athlete of the Year

Udodi Onwuzurike's sophomore year at Stanford University has been a dream run, with his latest award being named the PAC-12 Men's Track Athlete of the Year. 

The 20-year-old won the award based on his outstanding indoor and outdoor season, having produced record-breaking marks for his school and the PAC-12 conference circuit.

In the indoor season, he broke his Personal Best (PB) in the 60m several times. Then at the NCAA indoor championships, he was the joint-best performer in the men's 200m semifinals, storming to an outstanding 20.17s to win his race and advance to the final.

This time obliterated his previous PB and School Record (SR) of 20.56s before the championship and is a Facility Record (FR). Most importantly, it catapulted him as the sixth-fastest in world indoor history.

Then making his outdoor debut, Onwuzurike blazed to a time of 10.14s to win his 100m qualifying heat at the Stanford Invitational and lowered it to a blistering 10.07s for victory in the final, equalling the Facility Record.

The icing on the cake came at the PAC-12 Outdoor Championships, where he stormed to a PB) of 19.91s to win the 200m title, about forty minutes after securing the 100m silver medal in 10.22s.

His 200m time propelled him as the current second-fastest in the NCAA this year, third-fastest in the world, and third-fastest by a Nigerian athlete in history.

It also shattered his Standford University's record of 20.08s, and he's the youngest Nigerian in history to go under the sub-20s mark.

Onwuzurike will now look forward to qualifying for the NCAA Championships at the preliminaries, where he will gun to lower his times and win medals.