Olowora Repeats

Anyone who did not know her story may not have understood the shriek of agony Aminat Olowora loosed as she passed under the race clock, twisting her sweaty, sinewy body around to see her time.

Finishing at 17:02, more than 40 seconds ahead of the next runner at the California State Cross-Country Championship in Fresno, Olowora burst into tears and collapsed on the ground, exhausted and weeping, until two women assisted her over to a mat farther away to clear the finish line. Contenders for second place were just becoming visible on the horizon. Olowora cried for three minutes, head in her arms, before standing up and seeking out her teammates.

“Honestly, I’m preparing for the Olympics,” said Olowora. “My target for the Olympics if I want to qualify is in the 15s, so I wanted to start preparing for that now. Every time I go to a meet I want to do my best. So that’s why I came here today, to do better.”

Head coach Dr. Duro Agbede said Olowora has much to be proud of.

“Sometimes the day you hope for the record is the day it won’t come,” he said. “That is what we planned so we could go after the record, but she took it a little faster for the first mile. When you go that fast, you have to pay for it later. Still, we are talking about Aminat. She is still the best ever to run on this track and she is still the state record holder.”

Olowora shattered the California state record at last year’s championship by slipping under the previously untouchable 17-minute barrier. Her time of 16:59 was seven seconds faster than the 1984 record. The Nigerian athlete has led every women’s 5K this season with record-pushing or record breaking paces. At the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Championship, she ran a stunning 16:11 and cleared the track nearly three minutes ahead of her nearest opponent.

Distance is not an unfamiliar concept for Olowora, who moved from her native Nigeria to pursue her passion for running. Diving into a new culture and a new school, Olowora set out to improve her running time. After moving 8,000 miles away from home, she received a call that her mother had passed away. Unshakeable, she has since strapped up her shoes, put her head down and continued to train. Olowora said her mother always wanted her to do her best, so every drop of sweat she sheds has been to bring her closer to the qualifying time for the 2016 Olympics.

The California state championship race in Fresno was supposed to be more than a win.

“I try my best,” she said. “Seventeen minutes is not what I wanted, but it’s still OK. This tells me I need to prepare more, I need to go at it. I trained hard for this meet, but today it didn’t work. There was a pain in my stomach from the start to the finish, I wanted to stop but I just kept telling myself, ‘Just keep going.’”

Bundled against the chilly Central California autumn in the school’s colors, Olowora went for a short jog to cool off and simmer down before the men’s race began. She had been fighting off sickness for two weeks and the race took its toll. Olowora said she was not impressed with her win, but she takes it all in her very long stride.

“I just needed to come here to do my best, even though I’m sick,” she said. “That doesn’t matter, it doesn’t count. I’m here. I finished the race. I won the race and I’m very happy for that.”

Olowora has had friends on her journey to achieve 15 minutes. As part of the SWC cross-country team, she is surrounded by fellow athletes, all inspired, all driven and all-in. Her team has seen quite a season, even if they have not seen much of Olowora. Two other runners accompanied Olowora and the coaches to Fresno to run their final race of the season.

Freshman David Flores had an outstanding season, finishing second at the Pacific Coast Conference Championship. He started off well in the men’s race in Fresno, but slipped behind and finished 46th place with a time of 21:33. Sophomore Jasmine Vasquez finished the season in Fresno with a personal best, 19:46, nabbing 48th place.

“I did a different tactic this time,” she said. “I took off faster than usual, and just tried to hold on for dear life and hope that I didn’t die. We had four coaches all spread out throughout the course so that was very helpful.”

Amid throngs of colored jerseys representing schools throughout the state, the trio of panting Jaguars joined their coaches to await the medal ceremony beneath flickering rays of late-autumn sunshine.

“I’ve learned a lot from (Agbede),” said Olowora. “Someone like me, sometimes my body doesn’t want to do something, but if you have a coach who is strict, he forces you to do it. Coming here from Nigeria, I’m doing better. Every time when I was in Nigeria I was running 17 or 18. But coming here I’m running 16 low. I’m very happy to be part of the SWC team and to have someone like coach Duro. He’s the best coach I’ve ever met.”

Immediately after receiving her medal in Fresno, Olowora became the main course for hungry college scouts who have had her in their sights since she burst onto the scene in 2014.

Olowora’s 16 minute runs have also been noticed by professional sponsors. She was offered $250,000 to run for Nike, but turned it down to chase an education instead.

“Sometimes I look at the money like, ‘OK, why am I going to school? I can just turn pro and get this money,’” she said. “But I don’t need money now. I need the education, to have a degree in my hand. Even if I stop running, I can still go back to something.”

Agbede, who is also a Nigerian migrant, said Olowora’s decision may stem from their culture.

“In our society there is nothing like a student athlete,” he said. “If you are doing athletics in any institution in my country you are doing that on your own. The school does not recognize athletics. It is what you do in the classroom (that matters), so if you are adding athletics to what you want to achieve, that is purely on your own. So when we come here we follow the same code. A person like Aminat can go become a professional runner and make a ton of money, but that is not the society she comes from.”

College ambitions have not deterred her from an equally lofty goal, earning a place at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“Everything we are trying to do with the Olympics is on track,” she said. “Cross-country doesn’t count much. I’m just trying to get in the 15s. I still need to keep working hard because running on a track is different than running on a road even though we are running the same 5K.”

Agbede thinks it is a realistic goal.

“The chance is right there,” he said. “She’s a hard worker. The only thing we need to do is calm her nerves down a little bit. Sometimes, like today, she gets over-excited.”

Agbede said Olowora’s record from the state championship last year could stand for decades. Now, he said, they will focus on her Olympic qualifying time for track season.

“Every race is experience,” he said. “Every race an athlete runs they gain experience and you learn better, fundamental approaches. What you get for one race you learn for the next race. We take what we’ve learned and continue to build on that for track season. That is where we start to move into the level that we now have to get to, because cross country is a preparation season for track. This is our preparation.”

More than a great athlete, Olowora is a great teammate.

“She’s always trying to push me,” said Vasquez. “Even during the race, I can hear her voice, ‘Push, Jasmine, use your arms!’ Most of the time, after she races she will be running around the course again trying to find us and cheer us on. She’s very humble.”

Vasquez said that through rooming together during out-of-town races, she has come to know Olowora very well.

“She’s not shy,” she said. “She has the most amazing personality. She’s hilarious. I’ve cracked through her shell since last year. She has become one of my closest friends and I’m excited to see where she goes.”

Olowora’s win at Fresno puts her in an elite group of women who have won back-to-back titles on the course. It is a prestigious win for the college and a proud moment for the team she represents, said Agbede. But it is also has a special significance for the young woman who traveled across the world to run after her dreams.

“I’m proud of myself and I know my parents would be very proud of me, even though they don’t know much about what I’m doing here,” said Olowora. “Every day I run I think about my mom, then I keep going. I have a goal. My mom, she wanted me to do the best, so every day I go out there, I want to do the best.”