Olamide Olowe finished fifth at the national meet in the 200meter dash with a time of 24.58 seconds, which earned her the status of All-American track and field athlete. Olowe said she was pleased with her performance since she had improved from the 49th spot where she finished in last year’s competition.
“Coach (Macka) Jones helped me drop 2 seconds from my time,” Olowe said. “My goal is to run a consistent 23 my junior year.”
Macka Jones is the head track and cross country coach for El Dorado High School. He also volunteers his time as the coach of Texas Heat, the youth summer track team that Axel and Olowe competed on at the Junior Olympics meet.
“To see these girls develop and come along the way they have, shows how hard they are working,” Jones said. “It’s nice to see them represent the school, the school district and the city of El Paso.”
Axel and Olowe will compete on El Dorado High School’s varsity track team this school year.
“The way they are progressing shows they are truly elite athletes,” Jones said.
The summer league has given the athletes a chance to improve their times and distances and has shown that they can compete on a national level, he said.
“Now that I know I can jump that far I have to make my standards a lot higher,” Axel said.
Both athletes said they are eager to compete on the varsity team this year.
