The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

OVER the weekend, the swimming and athletics disciplines took home a majority of the awards at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s National Sports Awards.

Saturday night was a special occasion for all involved in sports with 21 winners taking home their respective awards.

The ceremony took place on the front lawn of the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

The Bahamas Aquatics Federation hauled in awards for Federation of the Year, Collegiate Athlete of the Year (male), National Youth Team of the Year, National Senior Team of the Year, and National Coach of the Year.

Lamar Taylor won the award for Male Collegiate Athlete of the Year and also took home the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) award.

At the collegiate level, Taylor has been nothing short of successful during the 2022-23 season.

He became the first Bahamian to collect three national championships at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Swimming and Diving Championships in March.

The Henderson State University student also became the school’s first individual national champion since 2010.

Additionally, he was named the Great American Conference (GAC) Male Athlete of the Year, the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference (NSISC) Male Swimmer of the Year, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division II Male Swimmer of the Year and Henderson State Male Athlete of the Year.

With regards to the BOC award, the 20-year-old secured a gold and bronze medal at the 24th Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in San Salvador, El Salvador in June.

Most recently, he earned the first medal (bronze) in the men’s 50m freestyle for The Bahamas at the 19th Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

The Grand Bahama native finished with a time of 22.13 seconds to smash his previous national record of 22.26 seconds attained at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

The National Coach of the Year award went to Travano McPhee, who served as the assistant coach for the CARIFTA Aquatics team. McPhee felt that it was great to receive the award and is looking forward to the continued growth of swimming in The Bahamas.

“It is a great honour to be a part of these nominees to be selected over some of the great legends like Tucker those and all the others…I think it has been a long time coming some long hours coaching, putting up with athletes, parents and everything that comes with being a great coach but I enjoy it, I love it,” he said.

The CARIFTA Aquatics team earned the National Youth and Senior Team of the Year title after some stellar performances at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Curaçao. The team made history earning a fifth consecutive title at the regional level and recorded their best performance bringing home 85 medals including 37 gold, 27 silver and 21 bronze.

The Bahamas Aquatics Federation also saw their swimmers flat out dominate at the Goodwill Swimming Championships in August in Kingston, Jamaica. The 40-member team not only came first, improving on their fourth place finish in 2022, but also hauled in 129 medals. The aquatics contingent set numerous meet and individual records at the competition.

With swimming earning a number of victories at the National Sports Awards on Saturday night, the newest National Coach of the Year was happy to see the sport receive well deserved recognition.

“Swimming is doing well. We came a long way, we will host the CARIFTA games next year and I encourage all Bahamians to come out and support our local swimmers…Swimming is doing outstanding not just locally but internationally.

“Algernon Cargill and his executive team are doing an outstanding job and we hope to see some bigger and better things for swimming in the future,” he said.

For athletics, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) saw athletes Jamiah Nabbie, Rhema Otabor, Tylah Pratt, Terrence Jones, and Brenden Vanderpool named award winners.

Nabbie was selected as Female Senior High School Student Athlete of the Year. The Queen’s College student has been a formidable force on the track. She won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 50th OakTree Medical Center CARIFTA Games in the under-17 girls 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events at home. The double CARIFTA gold medallist earned personal bests of 11.67 and 23.67 seconds in the individual events and became the first female to earn a gold medal on the track at the event.

Overall, she was happy to have her talents observed along with having the support of her loved ones at the National Sports Awards.

“It feels amazing to know that people chose me to be the athlete of the year and that I impacted other people this year and it definitely gave me motivation going into next year’s season,” she said.

Vanderpool was presented the Male Senior High School Student Athlete of the Year award. One of his most remarkable feats came at the 50th CARIFTA Games, where he broke his father’s, Brent Vanderpool, 36-year-old national record along with the CARIFTA record. He soared to 5.06m in the under-20 boys pole vault event for gold and a lifelong memory. His other accomplishments include a silver medal at the NACAC under-23 Championships in July and a bronze medal at the Pan American under-20 Championships in August.

Otabor, who recently earned a silver medal at the 19th Pan American Games, was voted Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year. The 20-year-old won the NCAA Division 1 javelin title at the Championships in June for Nebraska University. She won the event with a throw of 59.49m to become the second Nebraska javelin thrower since 1995 to accomplish this feat. Additionally, she was the second Bahamian since women’s national javelin record holder, Laverne Eve, to collect the title honours.

Andros native Pratt has made a name for herself in the high jump and long jump events. She claimed the award for Family Island School Student Athlete of the Year. The 16-year-old has racked up first place finishes in four of the last five events she has competed in this year.

She was grateful to receive the award for her hard work and reflected on her initial response to being selected.

“It feels really good to win that award I am excited and proud of myself…I was in a state of shock and after that I was just proud because I have to thank God, my family, and my coaches for all the training and intense workouts in the season so I was proud of myself and them,” she said.

Jones was chosen as the recipient of the Minister of Sports Award- For Excellence. The 20-year-old recorded a scorching 9.91 seconds in the 100m sprint at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida in April. He matched Derrick Atkins’ identical national record from the World Championships in Osaka, Japan in 2007. The Texas Tech student also sealed the deal for the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championship in the 60m event in March and became the new record holder.

For the remaining categories, La’Breah Sands, softball MVP for the Grand Bahama Lucayans, came away as the Junior Female Athlete of the Year. Meanwhile, Craig Ferguson II, representing the Bahamas Sailing Association, won the same award in the male category.

He was happy that his hard work and dedication has paid off and encouraged up and coming athletes to join a sport like sailing, which is not as popular as basketball and track and field, because it can be very rewarding as well.

Miami Marlins star Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm got the Prime Minister’s Award for National Pride.

Chavano “Buddy” Hield was voted Tourism Brand Ambassador of the Year and Ivanique Kemp was given the Sportsmanship Ambassador of the Year honours.

The other individual awards went to tennis player Rachel Thompson for the Leevan Sands Courage Award. In addition, Special Olympics Bahamas athletes Austin Green and Caitlin Romer were recognized as Male and Female Athlete of the Year with a Disability.

Kennard Mackey, from Eleuthera, was the victor for Family Island Coach of the Year.

The other collective awards were reserved for St Augustine’s College (National Senior Secondary Athletic School of the Year), CH Reeves Raptors (National Junior Secondary Athletic School of the Year), Let’s Swim Bahamas (Community Sports Award), Battle 4 Atlantis (Tourism Impact Award), and Old Timers Softball League (Sports League of the Year).

Varel Davis, head coach of the Raptors, talked about how it felt for them to win the award.

“We feel very honoured to be nominated and be able to win the National Sports Award…this speaks to the programme that was established years ago. We at CH Reeves not only focus on sports but academics as well,

“Behind every successful programme you have hard working coaches who day in and day out work with the athletes and get our kids to believe in the talent that God gave them and use it as a stepping stone to better their lives,” Davis said.

More activities will continue for Sport Heritage Month.