Leevan and Laverne Eve are strong contenders to win Athlete of the Year

By SHAVAUGHN MOSS

NG Sports Reporter

Will the coveted titles of male and female senior track and field athletes of the year go to field athletes this year?

Last year the senior and junior awards were swept by track athletes.

World champion 400 metres gold medalist Avard Moncur won the senior men's award. Olympic and Commonwealth Games triple gold medalist Debbie Ferguson won the women's.

On the juniors side, World Junior Championships bronze medalist Shamar Sands won the men's. Exuma native Shandria Brown, a collegian athlete won the women's title.

The question as to who will win this year will be answered on Thursday, December 18, when the Bahamas Association of Athletics Associations holds its annual awards banquet at the Wyndham Cable Beach Hotel under the patronage of past president Mr Levi Gibson.

This year, for the first time, the winning athletes will each also receive a trip to a destination of their choice within the Florida area.

Triple jumper Leevan Sands and javelin thrower Laverne Eve are strong contenders for the senior men and women's crowns.

Twenty-two year old Sands, a collegian at Auburn University, captured the bronze medal at the Paris World Outdoor Championships in August. He also captured the gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Grenada.

The 38-year-old Eve made her first ever World Outdoor Championships final and finished eighth. This year she also won gold at the Senior Central American and Caribbean Championships, and took the silver at the Pan Am Games.

Sands and Eve's names are just two among the other names in consideration.

On the senior men's side, 25 year old male quarter-miler Chris Brown who ran to the silver at CAC, and was a member of the fourth-place finishing men's 1,600 metres relay team at the Paris Championships is another person in consideration; Along with 25-year old male sprinter Dominic Demeritte who was third in the 200 metres at the Indoor World Championships. He also won the gold at CAC, and made the semis at the World Outdoor Championships.

The other women whose names pop up for the female athlete of the year, are 27-year-old female quarter-miler Tonique Williams, who was fifth at the World Championships, and 32-year old female sprinter Chandra Sturrup who finished fourth in the 100 metres at the World Championships.

On the juniors side, 16-year-old sprinter Tamara Rigby who represented the country at Carifta and the World Youth Championships, and collegian shot putter Aymara Albury are the female nominees.

On the junior men's side is male quarter-milers Michael Matthews and Andretti Bain who represented the country at Carifta.

Athlete nominations for the titles are made by a statistician, who has looked at the athletes results over the course of the entire year. The BAAA executives make the final decision on who wins.

Caption: Laverne Eve & leevan Sands

Posted: Wdnesday November 26,2003