SPORTS SECTION E
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017
Ayton McDonald’s High All-American By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
A
dd another historic achievement to the list for high school basketball phenom DeAndre Ayton in his already prolific career. Ayton became just the second Bahamian to be named a McDonald’s High All-American when he was announced as a member of the 2017 roster late Sunday night. He follows current University of Texas guard and Harbour Island native LaShann Higgs, who was named to the girls’ roster in 2015. Ayton, the consensus No.1 player in the class of 2017 and commit to the University of Arizona, will headline the 40th edition of the game, to be hosted at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on May 29. Ayton, out of Hillcrest Academy, was the only Arizona commit named to the list of the top 24 high school players in the United States. His West team will include other top players such as Gary Trent Jr (Prolific Prep/Duke), Brian Bowen (la Lumiere/Undecided), Troy Brown Jr (Centennial/ Oregon), Trae Young (Norman North/Oklahoma) and Brandon McCoy (Cathedral Catholic/Undecided), who all appeared in the Nike EYBL Bahamas exhibition game this summer. The East team also includes Nike EYBL Bahamas alumni, including Mohammed Bamba (Westtown/Undecided), Wendell Carter Jr (Pace Academy/Duke), Quade Green (Neumann-Goretti/Kentucky), Mitchell Robinson (Chalmette/Western Kentucky), Collin Sexton (Pebblebrook/Alabama), Lonnie Walker (Reading/ Miami0, PJ Washington (Findlay Prep/Kentucky), and Jarred Vanderbilt (Victory Prep/Kentucky). The University of Kentucky Wildcats have four signees in the game while 12 universities will be represented and seven players are still uncommitted. This year’s teams were selected from more than 750 nominees by the McDonald’s All-American
IAAF WORLD RELAYS WILL HAVE MIXED EVENT By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WITH less than 100 days to go before the start of the third IAAF World Relays, countries are now looking at fielding a team to compete in another discipline when the event returns in April at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium. The IAAF has announced over the weekend that they will include a mixed 4 x 400 metre relay, which will close out the two-day event on Saturday night, just after the completion of the traditional meet ending 4 x 400m relays for women and men respectively. Although they didn’t reveal too much details on how the event will be contested, the IAAF did indicate that the mixed relay, comprising of two men and two women, will add to the 2017 programme
JUSTIN LUNN ADDED TO DAVIS CUP TEAM By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association has completed its selection process for the men’s team that will represent the country at the American Zone II Davis Cup tie next month. Justin Lunn, making the team for the first time, has been added as the fourth member, replacing Kevin Major Jr, who is unable to play the tie (because of his school commitments) against Venezuela at the Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida, February 3-5. He joins Philip Major Jr, who has replaced top seed Baker Spencer, who is also unavailable because of school commitments at Vanderbilt University. The other two members of the team are Spencer Newman and Marvin Rolle, the player/
ABOVE THE RIM: DeAndre Ayton is just the second Bahamian to be named a McDonald’s High All-American. He was announced as a member of the 2017 roster late Sunday night.
Swimmers make splash in Swift heptathlon WITH a slightly different format than the regular meet, the Swift Swimming hosted its heptathlon meet at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex over the weekend. The meet, sponsored by Gunite Pools, saw swimmers compete in a total of seven events to be crowned the most outstanding athletes in their respective age groups. Winning the girls under-8 division was Ellianne Higgs of Swift Swimming. She was the lone competitor in her age group to contest the event. “I felt good. It wasn’t what I expected, but I tried my best,” said Higgs, an eight-year-old third grader at St Andrews. “I didn’t go against any competitors in my age group, but I won against some competitors in the 100m free. I came first in my heat.” Maxwell Daniels, of the Dolphin Swim Club, was the winner of the boys’ under-8 division. He too was the lone competitor. “It was easy, but it was also kind of hard because after my races, I kept getting tighter and tighter,” said Daniels, an eight-year-old third grader at St Francis/Joseph Catholic School. Winning the girls’ 9-10 division was Anjaleah Knowles of SWAT,
Naughty, Pg 3
SEE PAGE 2
SEE PAGE 2
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
COWBOYS OUT
who beat out Swift’s Elle Theberge, Giada Bertoldo and Georgia Saddleton. “It was good. I was hoping that I got a trophy and I am thankful that I did,” said nine-year-old Knowles, a fifth grader at Temple Christian. “My performance was good and the competition was good. At the end I thought I wasn’t going to win it.” Maddox Pinder from Abaco Swim Club won the boys 9-10 division over Swift’s Koen Mott and Ayrton Moncur. “I think I did good. The competition was hard,” said 10-yearold Pinder, who is in grade five at Angels Academy. “I had to swim against a lot of people.” Vanaj Paul of the Dolphins emerged as the girls’ 11-12 champion over Laila Burrows, Alexandria Patton and Ariel Evans, all of Swift Swimming, who completed the seven events. “It was good. I tried really hard,” said Paul, a 12-year-old eighth grader at St John’s College. “It was tough, but at the end I did it. I felt as if I did very well.” Erald Thompson III captured the boys’ 11-12 division for Swift as he out-duelled Dolphins’ Rondon Williams for the title. “In this meet, I shaved some time in my events, not all,” said 12-year-old Thompson, who attends St Anne’s School where he is in the eighth grade. “This was a very good meet. So I’m really
GARY WHITE CONTENDER TO BECOME COACH OF ENGLAND U-21 TEAM
team-mates Tristan Russell and Kierro Stubbs. “It was a little rough at first, but I just got into it at the end,” said Carey, a 10th grader at Queen’s College. “I saw seven races and I got best times in the majority of them, but there’s still plenty of room to improve.” Carey, 14, also had some competition as he went head-to-head with his 19-year-old brother Dionisio Carey. “He beat me in some of the races and I beat him in some of the races,” the younger
FORMER Bahamas head coach Gary White is among the contenders to become coach of the England under-21 soccer team, according to a report by ESPN FC. White, also the former Guam coach and Shanghai Shenxin manager, is up against some of the biggest names in the British game as he goes for the role vacated by new national boss Gareth Southgate. ESPN FC understands that the relatively unknown White has been shortlisted for interview. The other candidates are former Under-21 coach and legendary England defender Stuart Pearce, ex-Manchester United utility player Phil Neville, former Aston Villa and Spurs manager Tim Sher-
SEE PAGE 3
SEE PAGE 3
MAKING A SPLASH: An aspiring swimmer competes in the Swift/Gunite Heptathlon Meet at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex on Saturday. SEE RESULTS ON PAGE 4 Photo: Shawn Hanna/The Tribune happy that I got this opportunity to compete.” Gigi Eneas added the girls’ 13-14 title to the Dolphins’ haul as she won over Swift’s Jazmine Trotman and Aaleyah Evans. “I think I did pretty well. I’m happy that I won first place,” said 13-year-old Eneas, who is in grade eight at Queen’s College. “It just gives me confidence going into the rest of the season. I tried very hard, so I’m very proud of myself, especially in the 100 and 200m free.” DaVante Carey clinched the boys’ 13-14 title for Swift over his
SEE PAGE 2