Locked in: Edmond Santa Fe speedster making the most of her senior season
By Michael Kinney
Every time Emmanuella Njenje has touched the track this season, she has done something spectacular.
Even on days when the weather has been less than hospitable, the Edmond Santa Fe runner is breaking some kind of record.
Njenje currently has the best times in the state in the 200-meter dash (23.77) and 400-meter run (54.99). She also is part of the top-ranked 4 x 200 (1.38.83) and 4 x 100 (47.76) relays.
On April 15, Njenje and her 800-meter relay mates set a meet record at the University of Kansas Relays, running the event in a time of 1:40.23.
Amazingly, Njenje also has the state’s best time in the 100-meter dash at 11.67. However, she doesn’t look at that race as one of her best events.
At last week's 6A regional meet in Putnam City, Njenje won the 200-meter dash (23.96) and 400-meter dash (54.93), and was on the first-place 400 (46.83) and 800 (1:37.49) relay squads in helping Santa Fe capture the team title.
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While the 400-meter run could be considered her premier event, Njenje is less than a split second away from owning the state record in all three individual events.
“My season overall, I think, was pretty good,” Njenje said. “I've PR'd (personal record) every single meet and I've broken a school record every single meet and I'm getting close to the state record and I want to hit it before the season’s over.”
Just as importantly, she wants to close out her high school career with a few state championships, as the Class 6A state meet is set for Friday and Saturday at Yukon High.
“It'll be cool; It'll be my first state and everything,” Njenje said. “It'll be really nice.”
Njenje has an opportunity to close out her career with one of the most impressive seasons any runner in the state has had in quite some time. However, when the year began, none of what she has done was expected.
“I did not expect this at all. It was a big shocker to me,” Njenje said. “At the beginning of the season, I was at a 57 in the 400 and that's not good. No schools were really looking at me.
"And then once I hit like the 56 and 55 and a 54, I was like, ‘Oh wow.’ I didn't really expect it.”
No college track programs were expressing interest in Njenje when the season began. But that has changed drastically over the past two months.
Now, the Santa Fe senior is having to choose where she wants to continue her track career. Njenje hasn’t verbally committed anywhere yet, but says that could happen before the end of the season.
“Right now, I'm currently looking at Oklahoma,” Njenje said. “But I've talked to other schools, but I think I'm kind of set on OU. So we're just kind of waiting.”
Njenje would never have imagined she would have a chance to compete for the Sooners before this year. But she has proven it only takes one season to turn around an entire career.
When Njenje thinks about what changed the direction of the path she was on, she boils it down to the people she now has around her.
“I feel like my support system kind of grew,” Njenje said. “There are more people by me because I used to get bullied and stuff, so it was kind of hard to continue my seasons the past two years.
"So, this year has been like a big change.”
Whether she is running the 400 or the relays, Njenje can tell when her support system, teammates and fans are rooting her on.
“After everything I've been doing, people have been super friendly to me and they're always like cheering me on,” Njenje said. “I think it's super cool.”
But the biggest change for Njenje was more internal than external.
“I think I just like kind of started believing in myself more,” Njenje said. “It was like, ‘Okay, this is your senior year. You've kind of got to lock in and stuff.’”
