Wisconsin high school runner once banned on technicality wins state titles
CAMPBELLSPORT, Wis. (CBS) -- A Wisconsin high school track star who was ruled ineligible to compete because of a technicality won two state titles last weekend after the ban was reversed.
Josh Onwunili of Campbellsport, Wisconsin — in Fond du Lac County about an hour north of Milwaukee — had been forbidden from running for Campbellsport High School because his parents weren't living in the state.
They were in Ghana, in West Africa, working as missionaries.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association rulebook says: "A full-time student ... is ineligible for varsity interscholastic competition only at the school within whose attendance boundaries his/her parents reside."
The high school sports governing body ultimately reversed its decision, and Onwunili was allowed to compete with a special waiver. He went on to sweep the 100-meter and 200-meter state championships this past weekend.
"I made it, I persevered," Onwunili said. "It wouldn't have been possible without everybody. Everybody helped along the way, and it's been amazing."
Wisconsin state Rep. Jerry O'Connor (R-Fond du Lac) had been working with the WIAA to get the waiver granted so Onwunili could compete.
"All WIAA was ever asked was to 'LET JOSH RUN!' And, wow, did he run," O'Connor said in the statement. "Congratulations Josh!"
