Former UTEP track and field legend Olapade Adeniken and the 1976 indoor distance medley relay team will be inducted into the school's track hall of fame on Friday night in a ceremony at the Larry K. Durham Sports Center at 7 p.m. MST.
Adeniken was one of the fastest sprinters to ever take to the blocks on the collegiate and international scenes. In his four years at UTEP, Adeniken gained NCAA All-America honors 14 times, including taking the 1992 NCAA titles in the 100 and the 200; a feat that has only been accomplished 29 times in 83 years. Adeniken was an 11-time WAC champion and helped the Miners to the 1989 WAC Indoor title.
He still holds the school record in the 100 in 9.97, which is also the fifth-fastest collegiate time of all time. He has the school's second-swiftest time in the 200 (20.11). He also ranks indoors in the 55 (6th, 6.17) and the 200 (2nd, 20.76).
In 1992, Adeniken was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Texas Relays running for the Miners.
Internationally, he earned silver medals in the 400 relay at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and at the 1997 IAAF World Championships. A 1992 Olympic finalist, he was fifth in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
Adeniken was fifth in the 200 and fourth as part of the 400 relay at the 1991 World Championships. He set the world record in the indoor 100 (10.13) in 1995 and took seventh in the 100 at the 1995 IAAF World Championships.
In addition, he ran two of the fastest 100 races in the history of the sport, posting wind-aided times of 9.92 and 9.95.
The 1976 distance medley relay unit, composed of talented Kenyans Paul Njoroge, Joe Gichongeri, Wilson Waigwa and James Munyala took the NCAA crown to help the Miners to their third-consecutive team indoor title.
The relay team is believed to have only run two races together. However, both were memorable.
UTEP cruised into the finals running 9:55.5 in the preliminaries. The following day the unit won the NCAA title, broke the NCAA meet record and set the record for fastest time on an 11-lap track. They finished in 9:43.16.
Njoroge ran the leadoff 440-yard leg, splitting 49.6. Gichongeri was next in the 880-yard run with a split of 1:53.9. Munyala, who was inducted into the UTEP Track and Field Hall of Fame as an individual in 1994, ran 2:59.6 on the 1,320-yard portion. Waigwa, a Hall of Famer as an individual, closed running a 3:59.9 mile.
The hall of fame ceremony is in conjunction with the Spira Invitational, which will be held Saturday at Kidd Field. The competition begins with the field events at 10 a.m. MST, followed by the running events at 3 p.m. MST.
Tickets for the meet are $3 for adults and $1 for children. All UTEP students will be admitted for free. Spira T-shirts will be given out to the first 1,000 fans. For more ticket information please call 747-5347.
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