Meet Josh Onwunili: the runner who just needs a shot

The fastest runner in the state might attend Campbellsport High School.

The fastest runner in Wisconsin high school state history might attend Campbellsport.

One of the fastest runners in the country might attend Campbellsport.

Josh Onwunili just wants a chance to prove that those things are true. Onwunili ran a hand-timed 10.13-second 100-meter dash at a JV quad in Omro on April 30. That performance started the fanfare surrounding the senior sprinter.

"The starter arrived and forgot his gun, so everything was hand timed, which I initially didn’t realize was such an issue," Onwunili said.

Because it was not an automatic time, Athletic.net counted the time invalid, despite five different hand times clocking him at or below a 10.16. That time would have ranked second or third nationally.

"They submitted it, it got taken down and everything with that, it was kind of disappointing," Onwunili said. "It all happened in two days, so it was kind of a rollercoaster.

"It went from, 'Wow, this is amazing' to 'There's no evidence of what I did other than the video.'"

Thanks to a recent ruling made by the WIAA eligibility committee, Onwunili is ineligible to compete in varsity-level competition, including postseason competition.

Onwunili has a unique story. His parents are missionaries in Ghana and he has lived most of the past decade there, but he was born in Eden, where his family still owns a home, and lived there until 2014.

Since then, he has been back and forth with his mother and sister. In 2020, which was Onwunili's freshman year, he lived in Eden, which is part of Campbellsport's school district.

"My grandma had Alzheimer's, so we moved back for about a year or so during my freshman year," Onwunili said. "While I was in Ghana, I was homeschooled the whole time and freshman year I was also homeschooled. Since I was living in the district, I was able to play sports at Campbellsport, so I played varsity soccer and varsity track."

Onwunili said he wants to go to college in the United States so that's why he wanted to return for his senior year. His goal was to readjust to life in America and attend traditional school for the first time since second grade.

"Moving back in June was quite the transition," Onwunili said. "Moving completely to another continent has been very different. My mom went back in September with my sister."

The back-and-forth of where his primary residence was is the issue that is preventing the talented senior from representing Campbellsport coming up in regionals, sectionals and state.

Onwunili said one of the WIAA's big issues was that his parents do not live in the district with him. However, his mom hopes to return on Wednesday, which he hoped would help him in his appeal.

It did not.

"They said to submit my birth certificate to show that you’re not 25 years old and then show that your father can’t legally come back into the country," Onwunili said. "He overstayed his visa last time so there’s a penalty."

"We did both of those things and they basically said that it wasn’t good enough."

Campbellsport coach Derek Toshner said he understands the idea of the rule, but he believes this is an instance of overreach by the WIAA.

"They have these rules in place to prevent cheating, which makes sense; we don’t want to have teams get stacked and be unfair," Toshner said. "But here you have a kid, who went from Campbellsport all the way to a different continent and then back to Campbellsport, where he’s originally from.

"His parents own a house in Eden, pay local property taxes and his mom is coming back home this week. When we look at this situation, the rule is not preventing cheating, it’s preventing a good kid from running."

While Toshner's first reaction was frustration, Onwunili said the first emotion he felt was disappointment because once he realized how fast he was, he wanted to compete.

"Right after that, I thought, ‘They just don’t want me to run,'" Onwunili said. "Because we’ve provided everything, what else do they need? There’s nothing we can give them that is going to ever change their mind so that was disappointing."

In a last-ditch effort, Toshner said they are looking at filing an injunction with a judge, but there is still uncertainty as to whether that will go through in time for Onwunili to compete.

"Derek is currently talking to some lawyers that are trying to file an injunction so that I would be able to run regionals, sectionals and state," Onwunili said.

Mel Dow, the WIAA's associate director of eligibility, said matters of eligibility are confidential and he could not respond to questions about the case.

With the uncertainly surrounding Onwunili's eligibility, Toshner has used some of the contacts he formed from his collegiate days when he ran and won multiple NCAA National Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Toshner was on a team with runners, such as Andrew Rock, who was the silver medalist in the 400 at the World Outdoor championships in 2005. Rock, who now coaches track and field at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, also won an Olympic gold medal in 2004.

"I was around fast athletes, world-class athletes," Toshner said. "I knew how to train fast, and I saw some things."

Toshner said the goal has been to get Onwunili as much exposure as possible because he cannot race in varsity competition.

High school athletes get two meets outside of school competition, so Toshner reached out to UW-La Crosse coach Josh Buchholtz to try to get Onwunili into the Eagle Open hosted at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Onwunili ran in the qualifiers and prelims and was fast enough to qualify for the finals, racing against exclusively college competition. In the finals, he raced alongside UWL's Samuel Blaskowski, who recently qualified for the US Olympic Trials in June.

"We used Josh's second one to run at La Crosse," Toshner said. "I thought that would really help him out and get him exposure, and [Buchholtz] said sure."

Onwunili ran a 10.30 in the finals, which would be the fastest time in WIAA state history. The current record holder is former Wisconsin Badger and NFL running back Michael Bennett, who ran a 10.33 in 1998.

Toshner said he thinks Onwunili could run an even better time at state if given the chance.

"You know you get at state in front of a big crowd and usually amazingly warm weather, if they actually allow him to run, that would be awesome," Toshner said.

Onwunili said although he's proud of his time against college competition, he wishes he would have had the time in a school event.

"It just feels good," Onwunili said. "With the WIAA, I dislike them so much. Are you scared? I beat your record.

"I wish I would have been able to run that even at a JV meet so they’d have to look at my name up there and be like, 'he ran that on JV; he wasn't allowed to compete on varsity, but he still broke it.'"

Even with the impressive time, Onwunili said he thinks he was even faster back in April at Omro.

"Every little detail matters," Onwunili said. "There are a couple things in the middle of the race I messed up in the college meet that I don’t think I messed up at Omro.

"I think Omro was stars aligning, one-in-a-thousand type of race, but hopefully not. I’m going to work on a lot of stuff and hopefully it pays off and I run faster than the time at Omro."

The effort to gain exposure for Onwunili has been with a goal in mind to get college looks for him. He said he has had numerous colleges reach out already in the last two weeks since Toshner posted the video from Omro.

Toshner said the video has gotten 34,000 views.

Campbellsport Athletic Director Tom Griesemer said he knows Onwunili will be successful regardless of the final outcome with the WIAA.

"I believe that good things happen to good people," Griesemer said. "Despite his setback, I know that word will get out and people will see what Josh is capable of at the next level. I look forward to seeing him have a stellar collegiate career in track. Nothing will stop him.”

Onwunili said his time at the UWL meet qualified him for the 2024 Nike Outdoor Nationals held at the University of Oregon from June 12-15.

He also said one of the silver linings to this issue has been the support he's received. He said he receives messages nearly every day from strangers, who are rooting for him.

"It's still disappointing, but it's great to see everyone circling around and rooting for me," Onwunili said. "It's made the disappointment a lot more bearable.

"Everyone disagrees with the WIAA."

Onwunili also highlighted how well he's been supported by the Campbellsport community, the school and his team. He said he is readjusting to traditional school well.

"I really enjoy most of my classes here and it’s been great getting to know classmates and teachers," Onwunili said.

Griesemer echoed similar sentiments about Onwunili's impact on the Cougars' community.

"Josh is a special person who excels in everything that he does," Griesemer said. "Josh is a super young man who will accomplish great things in his life. He has a positive impact on everything that he does and everyone that he meets."

Onwunili will be successful.

The question is will the WIAA give him a chance to do it in the postseason? And if that answer is no, the follow up is: why not? Why don't you want a talented runner, who has done nothing wrong, to run in your state's event?

After all, it's all about the kids... isn't it?