Ogunleye brings Hawks pride to state meet

Israel Ogunleye represented Cooper track and field as the program’s sole Class AA state meet participant on June 7 and 8 at St. Michael-Albertville High School. The senior, who has also featured for the football and boys basketball teams this season, finished 21st in the triple jump.

Ogunleye reached a mark of 41 feet, 10.25 inches at the Class AA meet amid a tight pack of competitors in the boys triple jump. He hit his highest mark in his first attempt, followed by two more attempts at marks of 40-3 and 40-8.

He was 0.75 inches behind 20th place Jamari Stewart-Scott from Minneapolis South. The event was won by Fadel Johnson of Fridley with a mark of 47-3.25. The two were familiar foes, with Johnson and Ogunleye finishing first and third respectively in the Tri-Metro Championships triple jump event in May with marks of 45-3.75 and 41-1.25.

Ogunleye qualified for state by finishing first in boys triple jump at the Section 6AA Championships held at Rockford the week prior. His mark that day was 42-10.75, a personal record for the Hawks senior. It was the second time this season he had finished first in the event, having also topped the standings at the Visitation Invite on April 30.

Ogunleye will graduate with an impressive multi-sport resume at Cooper. He leaves track and field with impressive season records of 12.14, a personal record, in the 100-meter dash and he was part of a 4x200 relay, which topped out at 1:39.44.