Chioma (CiCi) Onyekwere-Lyons (B.S. ’16) has been making her mark in track and field since she was an undergraduate student-athlete at UMD. While completing her mechanical engineering degree, she was also breaking a 14-year school record in weight throw and a 34-year record in discus, and medaling in a succession of NCAA and Big Ten championships. At the time, she set the record for the second highest score in women's discus in Terrapins history (178-07).
Upon graduating, she pursued a career as an automotive engineer and has worked at Ford Motor Company for over five years. Now an exterior lighting design and release engineer, she was responsible for the engineering launch of the rear lighting for both the 2020 Ford Explorer and the Lincoln Aviator.
Establishing her engineering career did not slow down CiCi’s athletic ambitions. She went on to make her mark in the international arena, joining the Athletic Federation of Nigeria as a professional athlete. CiCi took home the gold medal in discus at the African Championships in 2018—a title she would successfully defend four years later in 2022—while also racking up first place in discus at the All-African Games in 2019.
During a visit to UMD’s mechanical engineering department in 2021, CiCi attributed her success in balancing her life as both a professional athlete and a professional engineer to the time-management skills and determination she learned while a student-athlete enrolled in the Clark School of Engineering.
Now CiCi has taken her athletic career to even greater heights. This summer, she won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, U.K. with a throw of 61.70m—a personal best. She not only won her first medal at a global championship, but she made history as the first female Nigerian to win gold in the discus throw at the Games.
Looking ahead, CiCi is preparing to for the 2024 Summer Olympics, to be held in Paris, France.
