The Tribune

 By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A DIVERSE group representing a wide cross section of sporting disciplines, the “committee” (of one) has narrowed the selection for the Tribune’s Junior Athlete of the Year to a star-studded list.

WINNER:

JOANNA EVANS

EVANS had the most acclaimed year of her young swimming career, highlighted by historic performances at every meet she suited up for. And she garnered a scholarship to a major NCAA Division I programme.

Evans, a 17-year-old student at Bishop Michael Eldon School in Grand Bahama, began her torrid pace dominating locally, regionally and eventually ended with a first for the Bahamas.

Most recently, Evans won the country’s first medal in Youth Olympic Games history.

At the event hosted in Nanjing, China, in August Evans was the bronze medallist in the 800m freestyle in a time of 8:39.75s. She lowered her previous national record of 8:41.39s that she set at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Evans had an eventful summer, filled with medals and record-breaking performances. The run for her began in April where she was one of the leading athletes to propel the Bahamas to its first ever CARIFTA Swimming Championships.

Evans dominated the girls’ 15-17 division with a total of 70 points, 39 points ahead of her closest competitor. In the pool, she took six gold medals and one silver.

Evans won gold in the 50m freestyle (27.01s), 100m freestyle (58.51s), 200m freestyle (2:05.52s), 400m freestyle (4:28.67s), 200m IM (2:25.61s), 400m IM (4:14.46s) and took silver in 200m backstroke (2:28.15s). She also added a gold medal in the 5k Open Water swim in 1:14.34s.

Less than a month later she would go on to lower the records in the 800m and 400m free. The previous times were 9:10.50s in the 800 set in June, 2007 and 4:32.97s in the 400 set in March, 2008 and both were held by Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace.

Her performances earned her berths to the Commonwealth Games and the aforementioned Youth Olympic Games.

At the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico in November, Evans added another pair of medals at the senior level. She took silver in the women’s 800m freestyle in a time of 8:39.61s and silver in the 400m freestyle in 4:16.82s.

One of the most decorated junior swimmers in Bahamian history, she will now make the transition to the senior level as she embarks on her collegiate career.

This year she also made a verbal commitment to the University of Texas Longhorns, with plans to enrol at the Austin campus for the 2015-16 season.

RUNNERS-UP

Anfernee Seymour, Byron Murray, Todd Issacs Jr (MLB draftees)

Quinton Rolle, Reshard Munroe (free agent signings)

The embarrassment of riches for the country’s baseball junior development was evident with five players. 

In another historic selection process for the Bahamas, graduating roommates Seymour and Todd Isaacs Jr were joined by high school resident Murray as members of the Major League Class of 2014 Draft that took place in June.

While Seymour was the leader of the pack, getting selected with the 197th pick in round seven by the Miami Marlins, Isaacs Jr got called by the Toronto Bluejays in round 22 at No.654. He was followed three rounds later by Murray with the 748th pick by the San Francisco Giants.

The trio were all selected based on their performances right out of high school at American Heritage (Plantation, Florida) and Trinity Christian (Lake Worth, Florida) respectively.

While Seymour and Isaacs Jr are products out of Freedom Farm in Yamacraw, Murray came up through the ranks of the Junior Baseball League of Nassau (JBLN) at the St Andrew’s Field of Dreams.

Seymour, the highly touted outfielder, received an over-slot signing bonus from the Marlins worth twice his slot value of just over $200,000.

In his first minor league season he hit .245 in 98 at-bats for the Marlins’ Gulf-Coast League affiliate while leading the team in steals with 11. 

Murray wrapped up his first stint in the professional game playing short season ball with the Giants’ rookie league affiliate in Arizona. 

The outfielder appeared in 19 games and in 68 at bats, hit .279 with a respectable .412 slugging percentage and 12 RBI.    

Isaacs opted to head to junior college at Palm Beach State, with the view of getting a much better pick in 2015.

Just months later, Rolle and Munroe were signed by the Cincinnati Reds organisation to enter their farm system.

Rolle was the youngest member of the Bahamas Softball Federation’s team that represented the Bahamas in the qualifying tournament for the Central American and Caribbean Games earlier this year. He also represented the Bahamas at the Pony Baseball’s Caribbean Zone Championships in 2012 and 2013.

The 16-year-old currently attends the Sir Jack Hayward High School in Grand Bahama where he is expected to graduate in June. He played organised baseball from the age of six to 12 years with the Grand Bahama Youth Little League’s Legacy Hurricanes and Focal Predators.

Munroe, 18, graduated from Sunland Baptist Academy in Grand Bahama in June. He is a product of the Grand Bahama Youth Little League and later joined the Grand Bahama Amateur Baseball League (GBABA) where he has played as a centre fielder and left -handed pitcher. Munroe has represented the Bahamas on the Caribbean Zone Championship teams in 2010, 2012 and 2013. 

Both players will be heading to the Dominican Republic next year to participate in the Summer Rookie Ball Programme with the Reds.

HENRI DELAUZE

Delauze is one of the leaders in the new school, the next generation of great Bahamian quarter milers. He was an individual medallist in three international meets and also committed to join the University of Miami Hurricanes track and field team for the upcoming fall semester.

The Grand Bahamian native and student at Bishop Michael Eldon High School began his successful season as a member of several national teams.

At the recent BAAAs end-of-year awards luncheon, Delauze won the Basil Neymour Most Outstanding Junior Male Track Athlete of the Year Award, the Errol Bodie Junior Male Athlete of the Year and the Bernard J Nottage Junior Athlete of the Year Award.

The 400m specialist completed his high school career with his best season to date, which included a silver medal at the 2014 CARIFTA Games in Martinique, silver at the CAC Junior Championships and highlighted by the country’s first track and field medal at the Youth Olympics with a bronze and personal best in 46.91s.

At the CARIFTA Games, Delauze won the Bahamas’ lone medal in the 400m with his silver in the under-18 boys’ race in 47.60s and he followed with another silver at Junior CAC in 47.21s.

DEANDRE AYTON

He’s nearly 7’0 feet tall, 220 pounds. He’s only in the 10th grade and is widely considered one of the best basketball prospects by every recruiting service in America for the Class of 2017 on a fast-track for the National Basketball Association.

Ayton had an eventful summer which saw his stock rise and continued to meet expectations when his regular season continued this fall.

The whirlwind tour for Ayton on the grassroots summer basketball circuit included stops at the Nike Peach Jam, Fab 48 tournament and the Lebron James Skills Academy, but was highlighted right at home during the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s Summer of Thunder.

The 16-year-old finished with 17 points and 18 rebounds to lead the locally-based Providence Storms to a shocking 84-83 win over the AP No. 19 ranked University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

Ayton got pushed around in the paint early on as you expected any high school kid to be playing against polished collegiate upperclassmen, but once he got his feel for the game going, nobody could contain him on the boards.

Not projected 2015 lottery pick Justin Jackson (Freshman: 19-years-old, 6’8” 190 lbs), not top returning rebounder and projected first round pick Brice Johnson (Junior: 20-years-old, 6’9” 210 lbs) and not Kennedy Meeks (Sophomore: 6’9” 280 lbs). 

JP Tokoto led the Tar Heels with nine boards, exactly half of Ayton’s total.

In his first season with the varsity squad Ayton is averaging 25.6 points and 18.4 rebounds per game on the young season thus far with Balboa City School Force in San Diego, California. He is also averaging 3.7 assists, 4.1 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.

In his latest outing, Ayton posted 29 points and 21 rebounds in his team’s 64-59 win over Elite 1 Academy on the road in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ayton has been on a scoring binge recently, leading the Force to a 6-1 record to open the season. The Force opened the season last weekend at the Bi-National Invitational Tournament in Tiaujana, Mexico.

Under the varsity spotlight, Ayton was one of the driving factors to lead the Force to a pair of convincing wins at the tournament by an average margin of 29.5 points per game.

In the season opener, Ayton scored a game high 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead Balboa City to a 92-63 win over Cetys University Greyhounds.