Completed Event: Track and Field at Texas Relays on March 26, 2025 ,
Track & Field
at Texas Relays
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Garrett Ohrenberg
Okyere throws his all into GCU
6/1/2023 5:03:00 AM | Track and Field, Paul Coro
Colangelo's grandson graduated from namesake college, became 7-time WAC champ
For more than 300 days per year, Jorden Okyere toils discreetly in the shadows as he heaves 16-pound balls for hours onto a field.
Once or twice in each of his four Grand Canyon years, the track and field standout thrower climbs toward the light to take a medal stand's top platform as a WAC champion.
When each gold-medal moment ends, the arduous, quiet quest for the next one begins.
The way Okyere throws a hammer, shot put or discus or lifts weights without fanfare is fitting for the seven-time WAC individual champion. It is the same unassuming manner in which he found his path and made his name at GCU without drawing attention to the other family name's presence in his life and campus – Colangelo.
When Okyere nearly did not have a college destination, he found GCU and has thrived at the university where his grandfather, Jerry Colangelo, helped usher Lopes Athletics into Division I and is replicated as a 9-foot sculpture near the Jerry Colangelo Museum. Okyere holds a Sports Management degree from the Colangelo College of Business and is a graduate student in Business Administration.
"Trying to living up to any sort of expectation with Jerry Colangelo is hard to do," Okyere said. "At the end of the day, I'm going to do what fulfills me and I want to make them proud. There are expectations, but not harsh expectations. He just wants us to succeed."
Okyere's gold medals and diploma only reveal part of the success story.
The Phoenician lacked focus at Arcadia High School but his father, Kofi, unknowingly steered him toward his passion by encouraging him to join track and field as a sophomore. Okyere did not want to run, so he chose the throwing events for fun more than function.
"I was just a knucklehead trying to have fun with my friends," Okyere said. "School got pushed to the backburner my first two years, and the last two years were playing catch-up. College has been easier to manage because I didn't have a choice. If I don't keep my grades up, I'm off the team or out of school. I wanted to keep these opportunities I've been blessed with."
Now a straight-A graduate student, Okyere torpedoed his track and field prospects with a 2.4 grade point average that many coaches would not touch despite his potential.
GCU head coach Tom Flood grew up in Phoenix and was well acquainted with two of Colangelo's children, Kathy and Bryan. Flood saw Kathy's proud aunt post in 2018 about how her sister Mandie's son had just won his discus flight at the Arcadia Invitational, a prestigious California prep meet. Flood reached out to see if Okyere was committed anywhere and whether he could contact him.Â
Okyere made a recruiting visit to GCU the next day. Flood attended his state championship meet, telling Okyere's
grandfather, "I think he's an All-America hammer thrower."
"Jorden's the best combined thrower we've ever had in our program," said Flood, who has led Lopes track and field for 14 years. "He's a yes-sir, no-sir. He tries to hide who his grandfather is because he wants to earn everything on his own, and he has. I'll take a whole team of him, just on his leadership and personality alone. Add that he's an amazing athlete, and it makes more enjoyable."
Okyere credits former assistant athletic director Sherraine McDaniel for helping his academic transition at GCU, where tutoring and other academic services changed him for the better as a student.
As an athlete, Okyere bulked up before his first season with roommates and fellow freshman throwers Moataz Hassan, Max Myers and Deshon Toney. Â
"Eat and then eat when you're done, eat more and when you can't eat more, have a piece of cake," Okyere said. "I added 30 pounds."
Okyere has gone from throwing a shot put 44 feet in high school to 60 feet for his latest shot put title at the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships this year.
He also has captured conference titles in indoor weight throw (2019 and 2023), outdoor hammer throw (2021 and 2022) and indoor and outdoor shot put (2022). As the High Point Award winner, he charged the Lopes toward their seventh consecutive indoor track and field conference title.
"For some reason, I've always found it when it mattered," Okyere said. "In big meets, you have to come up clutch. I need to win. If there are guys throwing 20 feet farther than me, I'm not going to get second place.
"Having so many WAC Championships now, I feel like I have a good mental aspect. When I feel nervous, it reminds me that I'm supposed to be exactly where I am."
Okyere entered GCU with discus as his primary event, but he now sees his greatest potential in the hammer throw. Shot put is the fun one for him, and he expects to reach NCAA regionals in hammer and shot put for his final outdoor season next year.
"He's a terrific young man and I've watched him mature in a big way as a person," Colangelo said. "He turns out to be an honor student and made himself a career in track with so many accomplishments and the privilege of so many championship teams. He was very dedicated to his trade, and he reaped the benefits. The GCU experience was a real blessing for him."
And for his grandfather, the former Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks managing partner with a legendary career as the architect of Phoenix professional sports and the savior of USA Basketball. But even Colangelo could not have envisioned someday watching one of his 10 grandchildren graduating from a business college bearing his name.
"He wanted to do it on his own," Colangelo said. "He wanted to be his own person. He just wanted the opportunity, and he succeeded."
Okyere carries a sensitive, compassionate side from his mother, Mandie, and the competitiveness and drive of his father, Kofi, who met hi
s mother when he moved from Ghana and they were studying at Arizona State. Since 2014, Kofi has been the president of O Capitol Group.
Being Colangelo's grandson carried perks, such as attending the World Cup in Turkey in 2010 or having "Papa" pitch to him during his Little League days.
"It's really cool and inspiring to see what he's done with his life and his stories," Okyere said. "He's a good person to everyone he comes in contact with. He was always loving and encouraging."
But as much as Okyere had moments rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, he gravitated to a sport that attains neither of those statuses for the vast majority of its college competitors.
He hoped to maintain a low profile at GCU, where he kept his head down on the first day of his freshman season. Okyere and his new track and field teammates were getting physical exams when an athletic trainer exclaimed, "Oh, there's Colangelo's kid!"
Once or twice in each of his four Grand Canyon years, the track and field standout thrower climbs toward the light to take a medal stand's top platform as a WAC champion.
When each gold-medal moment ends, the arduous, quiet quest for the next one begins.
The way Okyere throws a hammer, shot put or discus or lifts weights without fanfare is fitting for the seven-time WAC individual champion. It is the same unassuming manner in which he found his path and made his name at GCU without drawing attention to the other family name's presence in his life and campus – Colangelo.
When Okyere nearly did not have a college destination, he found GCU and has thrived at the university where his grandfather, Jerry Colangelo, helped usher Lopes Athletics into Division I and is replicated as a 9-foot sculpture near the Jerry Colangelo Museum. Okyere holds a Sports Management degree from the Colangelo College of Business and is a graduate student in Business Administration."Trying to living up to any sort of expectation with Jerry Colangelo is hard to do," Okyere said. "At the end of the day, I'm going to do what fulfills me and I want to make them proud. There are expectations, but not harsh expectations. He just wants us to succeed."
Okyere's gold medals and diploma only reveal part of the success story.The Phoenician lacked focus at Arcadia High School but his father, Kofi, unknowingly steered him toward his passion by encouraging him to join track and field as a sophomore. Okyere did not want to run, so he chose the throwing events for fun more than function.
"I was just a knucklehead trying to have fun with my friends," Okyere said. "School got pushed to the backburner my first two years, and the last two years were playing catch-up. College has been easier to manage because I didn't have a choice. If I don't keep my grades up, I'm off the team or out of school. I wanted to keep these opportunities I've been blessed with."
Now a straight-A graduate student, Okyere torpedoed his track and field prospects with a 2.4 grade point average that many coaches would not touch despite his potential.
GCU head coach Tom Flood grew up in Phoenix and was well acquainted with two of Colangelo's children, Kathy and Bryan. Flood saw Kathy's proud aunt post in 2018 about how her sister Mandie's son had just won his discus flight at the Arcadia Invitational, a prestigious California prep meet. Flood reached out to see if Okyere was committed anywhere and whether he could contact him.Â
Okyere made a recruiting visit to GCU the next day. Flood attended his state championship meet, telling Okyere'sgrandfather, "I think he's an All-America hammer thrower."
"Jorden's the best combined thrower we've ever had in our program," said Flood, who has led Lopes track and field for 14 years. "He's a yes-sir, no-sir. He tries to hide who his grandfather is because he wants to earn everything on his own, and he has. I'll take a whole team of him, just on his leadership and personality alone. Add that he's an amazing athlete, and it makes more enjoyable."
Okyere credits former assistant athletic director Sherraine McDaniel for helping his academic transition at GCU, where tutoring and other academic services changed him for the better as a student.
As an athlete, Okyere bulked up before his first season with roommates and fellow freshman throwers Moataz Hassan, Max Myers and Deshon Toney. Â "Eat and then eat when you're done, eat more and when you can't eat more, have a piece of cake," Okyere said. "I added 30 pounds."
Okyere has gone from throwing a shot put 44 feet in high school to 60 feet for his latest shot put title at the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships this year.
He also has captured conference titles in indoor weight throw (2019 and 2023), outdoor hammer throw (2021 and 2022) and indoor and outdoor shot put (2022). As the High Point Award winner, he charged the Lopes toward their seventh consecutive indoor track and field conference title.
"For some reason, I've always found it when it mattered," Okyere said. "In big meets, you have to come up clutch. I need to win. If there are guys throwing 20 feet farther than me, I'm not going to get second place."Having so many WAC Championships now, I feel like I have a good mental aspect. When I feel nervous, it reminds me that I'm supposed to be exactly where I am."
Okyere entered GCU with discus as his primary event, but he now sees his greatest potential in the hammer throw. Shot put is the fun one for him, and he expects to reach NCAA regionals in hammer and shot put for his final outdoor season next year.
"He's a terrific young man and I've watched him mature in a big way as a person," Colangelo said. "He turns out to be an honor student and made himself a career in track with so many accomplishments and the privilege of so many championship teams. He was very dedicated to his trade, and he reaped the benefits. The GCU experience was a real blessing for him."And for his grandfather, the former Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks managing partner with a legendary career as the architect of Phoenix professional sports and the savior of USA Basketball. But even Colangelo could not have envisioned someday watching one of his 10 grandchildren graduating from a business college bearing his name.
"He wanted to do it on his own," Colangelo said. "He wanted to be his own person. He just wanted the opportunity, and he succeeded."
Okyere carries a sensitive, compassionate side from his mother, Mandie, and the competitiveness and drive of his father, Kofi, who met hi
s mother when he moved from Ghana and they were studying at Arizona State. Since 2014, Kofi has been the president of O Capitol Group.Being Colangelo's grandson carried perks, such as attending the World Cup in Turkey in 2010 or having "Papa" pitch to him during his Little League days.
"It's really cool and inspiring to see what he's done with his life and his stories," Okyere said. "He's a good person to everyone he comes in contact with. He was always loving and encouraging."
But as much as Okyere had moments rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, he gravitated to a sport that attains neither of those statuses for the vast majority of its college competitors.
He hoped to maintain a low profile at GCU, where he kept his head down on the first day of his freshman season. Okyere and his new track and field teammates were getting physical exams when an athletic trainer exclaimed, "Oh, there's Colangelo's kid!"
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