Okagbare Mined For History In 2010

USTFCCCA Hall of Fame coach Bob Kitchens recruited Blessing Okagbare as a triple jumper.

Okagbare wrapped up her UTEP career as a four-time NCAA champion – but, surprisingly, none of those national titles came in the event in which was expected to be her best (In fact, her best NCAA finish in the triple jump came in 2008 when she was the outdoor runner-up).

Instead, Okagbare traded three-bounce success for one and proved to be a quick learner in the sprints. It all came together in 2010 when she became a finalist for The Bowerman and the only woman in the history of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships to win both the 100 meters and long jump in a single year and just the second to complete the NCAA short sprint-long jump double indoors (Carlette Guidry, 1988).

Before Okagbare made history throughout 2010, she recorded four combined top-5 finishes at the NCAA Championships in 2008 and added an Olympic silver medal to boot. Okagbare took second and fourth in the indoor long jump and triple jump, respectively. Then she flipped the script outdoors with a runner-up finish in the triple jump and a third-place effort in the long jump. Just a few months after the NCAA meet, Okagbare earned a bronze medal in Beijing that was later advanced to silver after a positive drug test by the former silver medalist.

Fast forward to 2010 and Okagbare, who celebrates her 32nd birthday today, added sprinting to her repertoire between her junior and senior years.

At the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Okagbare competed in the 60 and the long jump. She won the 60 by the slimmest of margins (0.003 seconds over Texas A&M’s Gabby Mayo) and then dominated the long jump with a 23 centimeter (9 inch) victory thanks to her title-winning and meet record-setting leap of 6.87m (22-6½).

Not long after, Hayward Field proved truly historic with Okagbare inside its friendly confines.

Her legendary weekend started on Friday with a runaway victory in the 100. Okagbare hit her stride after 60 meters and began to pour it on, winning by 0.14 seconds over Texas A&M’s Porscha Lucas in a wind-aided 10.98, which was the third fastest all-conditions mark in meet history since 1992.

The following afternoon, in the long jump, Okagbare answered a ho-hum first attempt of 6.23m (20-5¼) with a brilliant 6.79m (22-3½) on her second to win the competition. That mark would have won the national title at all but five previous installments of the championships.

“I had my best season ever,” Okagbare told the media assembled in Eugene, Oregon. “I had never been an NCAA champion before. Now, everything is together.”