Trust and Hard Work Sends Njadoe Back to Pacific Northwest
Jun 03, 2022 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The plan is to represent the Republic of Gambia at the World Championships. The Gambia, the smallest country within mainland Africa, is the place that Wurrie Njadoe left behind when she accompanied her father, Musa, and three siblings to the United States in 2006 following her parent's divorce. It wasn't until this past summer that Wurrie returned to The Gambia on a "long-awaited" trip and saw her mother, Danjam, after a 15-year hiatus.
The possibility of representing The Gambia is still off on the horizon, and for a few years, it seemed like some faraway dream for Njadoe, the 24-year-old Kansas State track and field standout, who as a sophomore was about as close to finished as a jumper or sprinter can get: patellar tendonitis to the right knee; ruptured hamstring to the left. Recovery time: One year. And yet, even missing the entire year in 2018-19, she didn't stop, she wouldn't stop because of a promise that she made to herself long before, that she wouldn't quit, that she wouldn't give up.
"It was just, 'How much are you willing to put in?'" Njadoe says. "I needed to build trust with my leg again. I had to trust my body and bounce back."
She has done so admirably. Over the course of her five-year collegiate career, she has qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in five different events — the long jump, 4x100 meter relay, 4x400 meter relay, 100 meters, and now the 200 meters. Njadoe set the K-State record and ran a personal best of 22.90 in the women's 200-meter dash to place 12th overall at the West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last week. She also set the school record in the 100-meter run with a wind-aided time of 11.16 (2.7) to finish 15th, just short of qualifying.
And so it is, that Njadoe will journey to Eugene, Oregon, and compete on Thursday in the 200 meters at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at legendary Hayward Field at the University of Oregon — a place she knows so well. This will be her third trip. She finished 22nd in the 100 meters at the outdoor championships last season. She will be joined by her coach, K-State assistant Vincent Johnson, who she has known since she competed in the Junior Olympics more than half a decade ago, the man who's grown into a father figure, who swept into Musa's living room and promised that he would watch over Wurrie if she attended K-State, and then who whisked Wurrie to Manhattan to grow as both an athlete and a person.
Njadoe has dual undergraduate degrees in Operations Supply Chain Management and Organization Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship, and she received her Master's in Marketing in May.
"I don't go one day without communicating with her," Johnson says. "It seems like she's been here forever, and not only because of track, but because our relationship is so strong."
Musa, Wurrie, and siblings Yasira, Musamba and Ami voyaged from The Gambia to Bronx, New York, when Wurrie was 9. Soon after, Wurrie learned that she could run faster than the pack. The Njadoe's transferred to Shoreline, Washington, and Wurrie beat all the upperclassmen in elementary school in field day races. By the end of her career at Shorecrest High School, she was a seven-time track and field state champion, and set records in the 100, 200, long jump and tied the record in the high jump.
She so loved the Pacific Northwest — Shoreline is 5 ½ hours north of Eugene — that it took something, or someone, special to pull her to the Midwest. That was Johnson and K-State. By the time offers from other big-time name schools rolled in, Njadoe had her sights set on the Little Apple.
Today, she ranks No. 1 all-time in K-State women's outdoor history in the 100 meters (11.16 seconds), 200 meters (22.90), and long jump (6.67 meters/21 feet, 10 inches), which she set her freshman year in 2016.
Her hard work in the 100 and 200 meters paid off handsomely this past weekend in Arkansas.
"It's pretty exciting," Johnson says. "Starting this season, I know it sounds strange, but the two numbers we were working toward were 11.1 in the 100 and 22.9 in the 200, which is exactly what she ran, so it's even more exciting that the hard work she put in came to fruition. We weren't even thinking along the lines of a school record, rather we knew these times would be what we needed to advance."
Njadoe was ecstatic.
"It took me a while to realize the time that I ran in the 200," she says. "Every photo of me was of me looking stressed and looking for the results to see if I'd done enough to qualify. Once I learned that I had, I saw the time and couldn't believe it. It was just a matter of condition and being mentally prepared and executing all that I've been trained to do. It was a great feeling and just put the icing on the cake that I got the record."
Now she heads to Eugene aptly motivated to show what she can do.
"I didn't like how my 100 ended last year because I couldn't move onto the finals, but I'm coming with redemption in mind and plan to qualify for the finals in the 200," she says. "I'm going to give it all I have with this being the last time I compete collegiately."
For a moment on Thursday, Njadoe might look into the stands of the 12,650-capacity Hayward Field. The semifinal round of the women's 200-meter dash is set to begin at 7:44 p.m. She'll look into those stands and look for her father. She'll wave at him. It'll be a beautiful moment between daughter and father. And among all of her feelings, one will surface the most: Gratitude.
"It'll be a great feeling to make him proud," she says. "He sacrificed so much for me and my siblings to be in the U.S. and to get an education. He worked two, three and sometimes four jobs to put a roof over our heads. I just want to show him that it was all worth it and that his kids are so grateful for that.
"It's not just about the race. Me being the first in my family to receive a master's degree, that's the icing on the cake for him, on top of being the athlete I am."
And what a fine athlete she is and will be.
The Republic of Gambia awaits.
The plan is to represent the Republic of Gambia at the World Championships. The Gambia, the smallest country within mainland Africa, is the place that Wurrie Njadoe left behind when she accompanied her father, Musa, and three siblings to the United States in 2006 following her parent's divorce. It wasn't until this past summer that Wurrie returned to The Gambia on a "long-awaited" trip and saw her mother, Danjam, after a 15-year hiatus.
The possibility of representing The Gambia is still off on the horizon, and for a few years, it seemed like some faraway dream for Njadoe, the 24-year-old Kansas State track and field standout, who as a sophomore was about as close to finished as a jumper or sprinter can get: patellar tendonitis to the right knee; ruptured hamstring to the left. Recovery time: One year. And yet, even missing the entire year in 2018-19, she didn't stop, she wouldn't stop because of a promise that she made to herself long before, that she wouldn't quit, that she wouldn't give up.
"It was just, 'How much are you willing to put in?'" Njadoe says. "I needed to build trust with my leg again. I had to trust my body and bounce back."
She has done so admirably. Over the course of her five-year collegiate career, she has qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in five different events — the long jump, 4x100 meter relay, 4x400 meter relay, 100 meters, and now the 200 meters. Njadoe set the K-State record and ran a personal best of 22.90 in the women's 200-meter dash to place 12th overall at the West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last week. She also set the school record in the 100-meter run with a wind-aided time of 11.16 (2.7) to finish 15th, just short of qualifying.
The 200 meters had been on the radar since the beginning of this season. Why? For one, despite her attempts, Njadoe sadly realized given the condition of her leg that she wouldn't go the outdoor championships in the long jump, yet she could still run with speed in the 100 and 200 meters. Secondly, she focused on the 200 meters because "the distance gives me time to strategize and if I make a mistake, I still have enough time to fix it and come back on top," she says. "The 200 became my favorite just based on the fact that the 100 stressed me out a lot."🎟 TICKET PUNCHED 🎟
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) May 29, 2022
Wurrie Njadoe is going to nationals! Njadoe earned her second school record of the evening in the 200-meter dash.#KStateTF x #NCAATF pic.twitter.com/QFg1Ln2nah
And so it is, that Njadoe will journey to Eugene, Oregon, and compete on Thursday in the 200 meters at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at legendary Hayward Field at the University of Oregon — a place she knows so well. This will be her third trip. She finished 22nd in the 100 meters at the outdoor championships last season. She will be joined by her coach, K-State assistant Vincent Johnson, who she has known since she competed in the Junior Olympics more than half a decade ago, the man who's grown into a father figure, who swept into Musa's living room and promised that he would watch over Wurrie if she attended K-State, and then who whisked Wurrie to Manhattan to grow as both an athlete and a person.
Njadoe has dual undergraduate degrees in Operations Supply Chain Management and Organization Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship, and she received her Master's in Marketing in May.
"I don't go one day without communicating with her," Johnson says. "It seems like she's been here forever, and not only because of track, but because our relationship is so strong."
Musa, Wurrie, and siblings Yasira, Musamba and Ami voyaged from The Gambia to Bronx, New York, when Wurrie was 9. Soon after, Wurrie learned that she could run faster than the pack. The Njadoe's transferred to Shoreline, Washington, and Wurrie beat all the upperclassmen in elementary school in field day races. By the end of her career at Shorecrest High School, she was a seven-time track and field state champion, and set records in the 100, 200, long jump and tied the record in the high jump.
She so loved the Pacific Northwest — Shoreline is 5 ½ hours north of Eugene — that it took something, or someone, special to pull her to the Midwest. That was Johnson and K-State. By the time offers from other big-time name schools rolled in, Njadoe had her sights set on the Little Apple.
Today, she ranks No. 1 all-time in K-State women's outdoor history in the 100 meters (11.16 seconds), 200 meters (22.90), and long jump (6.67 meters/21 feet, 10 inches), which she set her freshman year in 2016.
Her hard work in the 100 and 200 meters paid off handsomely this past weekend in Arkansas.
"It's pretty exciting," Johnson says. "Starting this season, I know it sounds strange, but the two numbers we were working toward were 11.1 in the 100 and 22.9 in the 200, which is exactly what she ran, so it's even more exciting that the hard work she put in came to fruition. We weren't even thinking along the lines of a school record, rather we knew these times would be what we needed to advance."
Njadoe was ecstatic.
"It took me a while to realize the time that I ran in the 200," she says. "Every photo of me was of me looking stressed and looking for the results to see if I'd done enough to qualify. Once I learned that I had, I saw the time and couldn't believe it. It was just a matter of condition and being mentally prepared and executing all that I've been trained to do. It was a great feeling and just put the icing on the cake that I got the record."
Now she heads to Eugene aptly motivated to show what she can do.
"I didn't like how my 100 ended last year because I couldn't move onto the finals, but I'm coming with redemption in mind and plan to qualify for the finals in the 200," she says. "I'm going to give it all I have with this being the last time I compete collegiately."
For a moment on Thursday, Njadoe might look into the stands of the 12,650-capacity Hayward Field. The semifinal round of the women's 200-meter dash is set to begin at 7:44 p.m. She'll look into those stands and look for her father. She'll wave at him. It'll be a beautiful moment between daughter and father. And among all of her feelings, one will surface the most: Gratitude.
"It'll be a great feeling to make him proud," she says. "He sacrificed so much for me and my siblings to be in the U.S. and to get an education. He worked two, three and sometimes four jobs to put a roof over our heads. I just want to show him that it was all worth it and that his kids are so grateful for that.
"It's not just about the race. Me being the first in my family to receive a master's degree, that's the icing on the cake for him, on top of being the athlete I am."
And what a fine athlete she is and will be.
The Republic of Gambia awaits.
Players Mentioned
/ Track & Field
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