James Onwuka now has a new stage on which to run.
Onwuka, a 2021 Newburgh Free Academy graduate who just completed his freshman year at Penn State will run at the World U20 championships after posting a personal best, 47.32 in the 400-meter dash at the African U20 championships.

The World meet is scheduled for August in Cali, Colombia.

“I was pretty excited,” said Onwuka. “It’s been one of my goals since I go to college. I always set out a plan, and fortunately things are going according to plan. When I got an opportunity to come out and qualify for a meet like this and get that international experience and be out there with such good talent at my age, I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity.”

Onwuka will represent Nigeria. While he was born in Newburgh, his parents, Ugwuogo and Uchechi Onwuka came from Nigeria.

“That’s my background and my roots,” Onwuka said. “I’m a Nigerian guy. Both my parents are from Nigeria, and I thought it would be really cool to represent them because last year at the World Championships, they won the 4x400 mixed relay.”

It’s been a successful freshman year so far for Onwuka. He placed 21st in the country with the Nittany Lions’ 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:06.90, narrowly missing their season best, which they set at the NCAA preliminaries.

“I wanted to just do good and go to all the championship meets,” Onwuka said. “We made it to nationals, and as a freshman, that was a big thing to me.”

So early in his career, that put him up against some of the best runners in the nation.

Now, he’s going to run against some of the best runners on the planet after posting a new personal record of 47.32 seconds. He had entered college as the fastest quarter-mile runner in New York.

Now, he has the chance to make his mark on the international stage.

“I feel like this is a chance to make a debut to my name,” Onwuka said. “To go into a world-class meet, it’s not the best in your city; it’s not the best in your state; it’s not the best in your country; it’s the best in the world. This is my first time I’m going to be on a stage like that, so I feel like it’s a really big deal.”

Success can kickstart a career in track, but there are no immediate goals. He just plans to set a standard for himself to always work hard and train hard and not sell himself short.

He’s not competing right now, just training so his body is ready in August when he competes in Colombia.

It’s a long way from where he started, at Newburgh Free Academy under coach Malcolm Burks, who he described as a second father.

“He’s a great mentor and a leader just to everybody who comes to the program,” Onwuka said. “He taught us just to be a leader, and he’s always saying he’s teaching us to become young men, instead of just athletes, and that’s what the program was always really about. It wasn’t really about running track. That was just a side part. He just wanted us to be better people once we left the program.”