Nwanneka "Nikki" Okwelogu will be favored to win the girls discus at this weekend's state high school track and field meet at Buchanan High. But her story hardly begins or ends there.

The daughter of Nigerian immigrants is the Clovis West High valedictorian and will attend Harvard, her mother's alma mater. Nikki's sister is at Princeton. A late grandfather was a Nigerian military leader and educator. Among her mom's eight siblings are lawyers, doctors and diplomats.

"It's kind of hard not to notice when so many people in the family are doing so well," says Nikki, whose full name is pronounced Wah-NECK-uh Oh-KWA-low-goo. "You just expect to be there, too, and to do what it takes to get to that point."