media_artricles :: 2017

Memphis is NAAA’s top club

Memphis Pioneers Athletics Club was on Saturday celebrated as the leading track and field institution in T&T. This was announced at the National Association for Athletic Administrations (NAAA) annual awards ceremony at the Radisson Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

Memphis copped the "Champion Club" award in all three categories - Juvenile, Junior and Senior.

During the announcement that Memphis is the Champion Club for 2016, representatives of the other clubs seemed surprised.

In responding to a question from the Trinidad Guardian as to which club won the club award, the NAAA president Ephrain Serrette said, "According to the information we received from the independent committee, yes Memphis won all three categories."

Major individual awards were also handed out on the evening with javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott and sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye emerging the top senior athletes while Khalifa St Fort and Akanni Hislop were the best junior performers of last season.

Ahye was named the senior women's Athlete of the Year award for her outstanding showing at last year's Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She competed in three finals at the premier event in the women's 100 metres, 200m and 4x100m relay.

Walcott won the men's version of the award after winning T&T's lone medal, a bronze in the men's javelin event, adding to his gold medal won at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

St Fort received the junior girls Athlete of the Year for her achievements at the World Junior Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland, bagging a bronze in the girls 100m dash and Hislop was the best among the boys after nabbing gold in the Under-20 200m at the Carifta Games in Grenada.

Para-athletes Akeem Stewart, a field specialist, and sprinter Nyoshia Cain were recognised on the evening for "Global Excellence".

Stewart emerged as a new national hero when he set a world record (57.32m) to win the Men's Javelin (F42/43/44) and later bagged a silver in the Discus (F43/44), tossing 61.72m at the Rio Paralympic Games in September.

Cain also bagged bronze at the world event in the Women's 100m (t43/44) in a personal best of 13.10.

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