Brockton's Chizoba Ezeigwe a reluctant All-America

April 26, 2006

By Jim Fenton
Brockton Enterprise Staff Writer

NORTON - She was initially hesitant about joining the track team at Thayer Academy as a freshman in the spring of 2002.

Chizoba Ezeigwe of Brockton was already playing soccer and basketball, and she had other interests like ballet, karate and swimming to occupy her time.

The track coaches at Thayer, however, had witnessed the speed Ezeigwe displayed on the soccer field and basketball court, and they saw great potential.

"Because I was really fast, they were like, 'Why don't you come and try track?'' said Ezeigwe. "But I was like, 'No, I don't want to do that. You guys run too much.'

"The coach was like, 'No, just come and try and it and you'll like it.' So my dad (Godfrey) said, 'Just try it once. If you like it, go back. If you don't like it, then you've tried it.' ''

Ezeigwe gave sprinting a try that spring and became instantly hooked, and it wasn't long before soccer and basketball went on the back burner.

"I tried it, I liked it and I started to get good at it,'' said Ezeigwe. "After freshman year, I stopped playing basketball and soccer and started running indoor track, and it became an all-year round thing.''

From reluctant track participant as a first-year student at Thayer, Ezeigwe has developed into one of the nation's top Div. 3 sprinters as a freshman at Wheaton College.

During the indoor season, Ezeigwe earned All-America recognition by placing fifth in the 400-meter race at the NCAA Championships in Northfield, Minn.

In her first meet of the spring season, Ezeigwe was second in the 400-meter race at the 28th annual Aztec Track Classic, hosted by San Diego State University.

She has already qualified for next month's outdoor NCAA Championships in the 200- and 400-meter events and will be on Wheaton's 4x400 relay team at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia this week.

With a month still to go, Ezeigwe has already put together a spectacular first year at Wheaton, and the best is likely yet to come in her career.

"She's a talent,'' said Wheaton coach Paul Souza, who has coached nearly 200 All-America athletes in 11 seasons. "We think she can get to the Olympic Trials. She just loves to run.

"She has a lot of natural talent, but a lot of kids with natural talent don't love to run. She has a love of the sport.''

Ezeigwe, who competed in the nationals during her career at Thayer, looked at some Div. 1 track programs before deciding on Wheaton.

She wanted to remain close to Brockton and was looking for a small school, and Wheaton fell into that category.

Ezeigwe was unsure what to expect in her first year running track for the Lyons, but she quickly made a name for herself.

At the winter season opener, the Dartmouth Relays, Ezeigwe was third in the 60-meter dash, then won the 200-meter race and was second in the 55-meter event at the Tufts Invitational. That was just the start of a successful run.

"I really didn't want to expect too much,'' she said. "I knew the training was going to be completely different. In high school, you are training 10 times less than what it is here. And, of course, college is more intense and you have to be dedicated and serious about it.

"I came in expecting it was going to be hard, but if I talked to (the coaches) and worked with them and did what I'm supposed to do, it'll get easier, and it did. I made it to nationals. What's better than that, being an All-American in the 400?''

The 400 is Ezeigwe's top event, and she had the nation's best time (55.99 at the New Englands) entering the NCAAs, where she ran 57.05 to take fifth.

"A lot of people tell me I look so graceful when I'm running (the 400) and I look carefree and I feel carefree,'' she said. "Once the gun goes off, I'm just running. There's no more nerves, there's no more anything.

"The 200 is fun, it's fast and easy, but the 400 takes skill and you also have to be a natural athlete and you have to like it.''

Ezeigwe said her speed comes from her father's side of the family. Godfrey Ezeigwe was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States in 1976 to study at the University of Portland.

He later attended Northeastern University in Boston, met his future wife, Annabell, and they settled in Brockton in 1990. Ezeigwe's younger brother, Ndubisi, is a basketball standout at the Hillside School in Marlboro.

Ezeigwe has traveled to her father's native land three times and is looking forward to another visit in the near future.

"I love my culture,'' she said. "Anybody asks me, I always tell them I'm Nigerian-American. I have so much fun over there with a lot of cousins. It's beautiful.

"It's different from here because people are really cultural. You eat all your cultural foods and you wear cultural clothes. There are a lot of ceremonies.''

Ezeigwe's uncle, Bernard, is the head of the Igbo tribe in Nibo where he has a building construction business.

"People look up to him,'' said Ezeigwe, who will probably be a biology major. "Nigeria is like a community. Everyone helps one another. People look up to him and respect him. If they had a problem, they'd go to him first and ask him what to do. You help each other out.''

The newspaper clippings detailing Ezeigwe's success in track have been sent to Nigeria for her family to read, and the way her career has begun, there are sure to be more to follow.

Ezeigwe, who has taken part in just one meet this spring due to a hamstring ailment, is looking forward to another trip to the nationals before ending her first year.

"I didn't think I was going to be an All-American as a freshman or even make the nationals,'' she said. "That says a lot about where I'm headed, I think.

"I really want to go to the Olympics in 2008. I'm not sure I'll make it, but I'd like to get close to it, at least go to the Olympic Trails.

"Then, four years after that, hopefully, I'll make it then.

"I have to work really hard. Training, dedication, eating right, sleeping right, that's what it's going to take. Everything has to be on the right track. I have to make a serious schedule for myself. Freshman year is just the starter.''

Ezeigwe has come a long way from that spring in 2002 at Thayer when sprinting wasn't on her radar.

"My first 200, I think I ran it in 32 (seconds),'' she said. "I was like, 'Yeah, right, I'm not going to get better at this.' ''

She not only got better, but Ezeigwe is now one of the best Div. 3 sprinters in the country with three years to go in her college career.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 4/26/06.
Questions about this page? Use our query form.

News Headlines

Wheaton reorganizes track and field staff, Souza and Mangiacotti named co-head coaches (more)

Three Wheaton track and field athletes earn national academic honors, both men's and women's squads draw accolades from USTFCCCA (more)

Brousseau earns first academic all-district honor of career (more)