Waubonsie’s Morolake Akinosun commits to Texas A&M

Updated: November 10, 2011 8:34PM

Waubonsie Valley senior standout Morolake Akinosun has verbally committed to a track scholarship at Texas A&M, according to Warriors head coach Dave Gowing.

“I had Tennessee, LSU and Alabama calling me,” Gowing said. “Everybody wanted her. I know she visited Penn State and Stanford and also talked about looking at Clemson.”

Akinosun, who was bothered by a hamstring injury last spring, qualified for the state meet in the 100-meter dash and 400 but failed to reach Charleston in her favorite 200 race. She went on to place second in the 100 in the Class 3A state meet, but withdrew from the finals of the 400 because of the injury.

She came back with a vengeance, though, in summer competition with Tom Boatright’s Aurora Flyers track team.

In the national AAU Junior Olympics meet held in August in New Orleans, Akinosun won individual titles in both the 100 and 200, competing in the girls 17-18 division and was a member of the Flyers’ record-setting national champion 400 relay team.

She won the 100 in 11.62 seconds after being less than a .1 of a second off the national record with her semifinal time of 11.42. She then set a national record with a 23.49 in the 200 semifinal and followed it up by winning in 23.73 seconds.

“I’m probably happier with the 200 than the 100,” said Akinosun, whose older sister Moriyike is a sophomore sprinter on the University of Illinois track team. “The 200 is the favorite because I set a record and it made up for the frustration of not making it to state (in the 200) this (past) season.”

Two years earlier, Akinosun and her sister were key contributors — along with Keia Pinnick, Da’Sha Patton, Ayo Adewole and Michelle Higgins — that helped the Warriors claim a second place team trophy at the IHSA Class 3A State meet under coach Jim Braun, who then moved over to start the Metea Valley program and handed the reins to Gowing.

“She’s the last of that fabulous group and all of them have moved on to Division I schools,” Gowing said.

Pinnick moved on to Arizona State, Patton has joined Moriyike Akinosun at Illinois, Higgins competes for Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Adewole has walked on this season at the University of Missouri.

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