Although born in Ethiopia, Wondafrash spent a part of his upbringing in Belgrade since his mother worked as an embassy cook there.
[2] At one point he had citizenship in Yugoslavia, as he set the country's national boys' junior record for the indoor 1500 meters on February 11, 1992, running 3:48.57 in Budapest for Belgrade club AK Crvena Zvezda.
He was subsequently contacted by Brigham Young University track coach Willard Hirschi, who recruited him to BYU when Yugoslavia was breaking up.
[2] On March 30, 1996, he placed second in the men's 800 meters at the Cal Poly meet in San Luis Obispo with a time of 1:52.78.
[5] In February 1998, he provisionally qualified for the preliminary rounds of the 1998 NCAA DI Indoor Championships when he ran 4:10.16 for the mile at the Mountain State Games in Pocatello, Idaho.