Osinachi Nwabueze admits, the last few months have been wild ones.
But champions, after all, are rarely forged by taking the easy path.
The Pelham High senior could no longer choose between his two passions — basketball and track. So he decided to take the leap into waters few athlete are willing to brave, playing two varsity sports — at a high level — in the same season.
And the results have been nothing short of brilliant.
Last week, Nwabueze won the New Hampshire Division II state title in the long jump with an area-leading and personal record 22-9.5, nearly a foot better than the Division I champion (22-01.75) and just off the Massachusetts Division 1 champ (22-9.75).
That all while playing a key role at guard for the Pythons boys basketball team that entered the week 10-4 with dreams of returning to the Division II title game for the third time in four seasons, winning he crown in 2023 and 2024.
“Around last spring is when I started considering playing both sports,” said Nwabueze, whose family is from Nigeria. “Then, in the fall is when I was fully sure that I would be doing both sports. I felt like I was ready for the challenge. The toughest part was finding time for track practice. With basketball being my primary sport, it received first priority. Many days, practices would intertwine or I would spend little time at track practice.”
Success on the track is nothing new to Nwabueze. Last spring he placed second in both the long jump (22-3.25) and triple jump (45-6.5) at New Hampshire Meet of Champions after winning the Division III title in the triple jump (43-5.5).
“My main reason for wanting to juggle both sports was to enter the outdoor track season already in midseason form,” he said. “I knew I could handle the workload.
“Taking home the DII title meant a lot to me. Outdoing the (NHIAA) Division I winner goes to show that in such an individual sport you can really shine regardless of where you go. Going into the meet, I was feeling very confident. The week prior I actually texted my coach that I would jump 22-9-plus, and I jumped 22-9.5. So now I know not to sell myself short.”
The work on the track has done nothing to limit Nwabueze on the basketball court.
For the season, he’s averaging 5.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.6 rebounds per game. Over the last five games, he’s averaging 9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds 2.2 steals a game.
“Nachi is a tremendous athlete whose basketball ability is catching up to his athleticism every time he steps on the court,” said Pythons coach Joe Morin. “He brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm into the game with his defensive ability and over the last few games his ability to score and create opportunities for his teammates has increased as well. He is well liked by teammates and a crowd favorite. He will be a key to a successful playoff run.”
So now, with one state championship already in his back pocket, he’ll look to make it a two title winter. And he isn’t done with indoor track.
“For basketball the single goal is winning the state title at UNH this March and bettering myself game by game,” he said. “In track, I don’t want to put a ceiling on myself so I’ll just say doing better than I did the last meet and proving myself at New Englands and nationals. I thank all my coaches for being so supportive.”
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