The Minister for Youth Development & Sports lauded the Saint Lucian ace-sprinter Julien Alfred on her latest achievement of winning the Bowerman Award in Track and Field.
Knox Sports – a US publication described Alfred, the Texas Longhorns sprinter, as “the best college track and field athlete in America.”
Alfred was named the winner of The Bowerman Award, the highest honor in collegiate track and field, akin to football’s Heisman Trophy. Alfred had one of the best years in both indoor and outdoor track in NCAA history en route to claiming the award.
Julien is the second Texas woman to win the award and the first since Courtney Okolo did it in 2016, and she is the first non -American woman to win the award.
Julien was unbeatable on the tracks- and in the process, was dominant in the 60-meter dash during the indoor season. She also broke the NCAA record six times shaving her time down to 6.86 seconds on her way to the national championship in the event.
She completed the sprint double during the indoor season with a win in the 200 meters, becoming the first woman from the Big 12 Conference to accomplish the feat and the second woman to do it in the past 25 years.
Alfred helped the Longhorns win the NCAA outdoor national championship by winning the 100 and 200, setting the fastest all-conditions time in NCAA history with a 10.72w in the 100. She also set the fastest all-conditions time in the 200 with a gold-medal winning 21.73w.
Alfred also ran a leg on the Texas 4×100 relay team that broke the NCAA record three times and took home gold at the NCAA championships.
Meanwhile, on the margins of Monday’s Cabinet meeting, Casimir applauded Alfred’s feat, stating that: “It’s a wonderful time for Sports in Saint Lucia.”
He declared that Saint Lucia was experiencing its best year in its sporting history.
“1987 was … pretty much our barometer year in achievement, winning the Caribbean Cup in football, (and in) cricket, doing great things,” noted the sports minister. “But this year, we have seen Julien Alfred reach the absolute pinnacle of collegiate track and field.”
The Gros Islet MP also commended Saint Lucia’s table tennis team for their success, in last weekend’s OECS Table Tennis Championships. He added: “Our table tennis team came out on top …in every division – male, female, overall champions in table tennis at the OECS level and so we are very proud of where we’re going in terms of sport.”
Noting that several of the island’s sporting associations were performing commendably, Casimir is optimistic that Saint Lucia may likely field at least six athletes, if not at the Paris Olympics, but possibly at future Olympic games .
The sports minister recalled that Saint Lucia won the Caribbean Boxing Championship, the Schoolboys Boxing Championship and the OECS championship.
“We have been exporting athletes to Venezuela, to Martinique – all over the world,” the Minister noted.
Commenting on the latest development towards the construction of a National Aquatic Centre, he said, the facility will provide prospects for the island’s swimmers complemented with adequate coaching programmes.
With global athletes advocating for the issue of ‘mental health’ to be addressed, and technical units planning strategies to incorporate mental aptitude in players, Casimir said, government will review the matter, since “We’ve had the best athletes, but they have not been the most mentally competent.”
The sports minister added, “So, this government has really focused on the psychosocial, and when I say psychosocial, I mean their social life, their parenting, their background, their society, the community they live in and what they eat.”
Casimir asserted: “All those sort of things – so we could take care of that aspect of their lives, so they can focus on the field and then focusing on the physical development.”