NEW ORLEANS – Elite sprinter Ismael Kone, who will compete for the University of New Orleans next week at the NCAA Championships, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for May. Monthly award-winners are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month
Kone established himself as the top sprinter in UNO history with a memorable month of May for the Privateers. The sophomore from Texas broke the 10-second barrier in the 100-meter dash at the Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 9.94 seconds, the best time in school and Southland Conference history (as the time was wind-aided it’s not the official conference record). His time was the third-best collegiate time in the nation this year (eighth in the nation overall, 13th in the world). He also won the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.59 while keying the Privateers’ 4×100-meter relay victory (40.08). Those marks launched him to the NCAA East Regionals in Bloomington, Ind., where he qualified for the NCAA National Championships in the 100-meter dash with the third-best overall time (10.11). He also advanced to Nationals in the 200 with a time of 20.80. UNO narrowly missed advancing its 4×100-meter relay team as well – Kone ran the third leg as the team posted a time of 39.68 to miss out by five hundredths of a second.
The NCAA Championships are scheduled for June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore., with Kone competing in the 100-meter dash semifinals 7:46 p.m. Central and the 200m semifinals at 8:44 p.m. Central.
Kone earned the honor a crowded field of impressive candidates, including four other track and field stars and three baseball standouts.
- Alia Armstrong, a sophomore at LSU and a graduate of St. Katherine Drexel Prep, opened May by winning the SEC Championship in the 100-meter hurdles with a slightly wind-aided time of 12.46 seconds while also running a leg of the Tigers’ winning 4×100 meter relay team. She then competed at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Bloomington, Ind., posting a time of 12.82 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles to lock up her spot at the national championships. She also was part of LSU’s 4×100 relay team which posted a time of 42.98 seconds to advance to nationals.
- DaNya Horne, from the Xavier University of Louisiana women’s track and field team, earned NAIA All-America honors in the discus after a seventh-place finish at nationals and a PR of 43.49 meters/142 feet, 8 inches. The Omaha, Neb., product was ranked 21st entering nationals. Horne produced PRs in both her May meets. The first was 43.34/142-2 at the Carey Last Chance.
- Michael Hotard was instrumental in St. Charles Catholic winning the Division III state baseball championship. In May, the junior pitched 14 innings in two victories, allowing 10 hits, two runs and struck out eight. In the state championship game, Hotard tossed a complete-game one-hitter with six strikeouts to lead the Comets to a 2-0 win over top seed St. Thomas Aquinas. He also drove in a run with an RBI single, the only run St. Charles Catholic would need. In a 3-2 victory over Newman in the Division III quarterfinals, Hotard went the distance, allowing two runs on nine hits.
- Brayden Jobert had a spectacular month for the LSU baseball team. In four games from May 16-22, the Slidell native and Northshore High School product was 8-for-16 at the plate with five home runs and 13 RBI. In a May 21 win over Vanderbilt, the redshirt sophomore belted two home runs, including a grand slam, and smacked a two-run double to tie the LSU single-game record with nine RBI. Jobert was recognized as the Dick Howser National Player of the Week and the SEC Player of the Week for his performance. He leads LSU with 17 home runs and 55 RBI.
- A sophomore sprinter, Krosse Johnson single-handedly carried Holy Cross to a top-five finish in the LHSAA Class 5A track and field championship May 7 in Baton Rouge. He won the 100 meters in 10.54 seconds, the 200 in 21.07 and was a part of the 4×100 relay that stopped the timer in 41.27. Each win produced 10 points, and those were the only 30 points Holy Cross scored in the meet – still good enough for a fifth-place tie in the standings. All three times were the best in any classification at the state meet.
- Dillard University’s Jamaal Morris earned All-America recognition in three events at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. After qualifying for the national championships in five events (4x100m relay, the 200m, the 100m, the 400m and the 4x400m relay), he placed fourth in the 200m, sixth in the 400m and was part of the 4x400m relay team that finished eighth nationally to earn All-America in each.
- Delgado’s Michael Stutes closed the month of May with a .433 batting average. In nine games, he tallied 11 hits, including two home runs and six RBI. He scored seven runs and walked five times and was instrumental in the team’s Region XXIII championship and super regional berth during the month. In the NJCAA South Central District Championship, Stutes delivered a clutch single to plate the go-ahead run in Delgado’s 9-7 win over No. 7-nationally ranked Crowder College to keep Delgado’s season alive and force the tournament’s if-necessary championship game. He went on to score on a wild pitch that inning to secure the insurance run, closing the game 2-for-3 with two RBI, two walks and two runs scored. Stutes also delivered two key RBI (one on a solo home run that tied the game in the sixth to spark the late rally) in Delgado’s first round win over No. 5 nationally ranked Eastern Oklahoma State College. Stutes is Delgado’s starting designated hitter and a U.S. Army Reserve Specialist who missed several games during the season during military training exercises. The Super Regional on May 20-22 marked his final games as his unit has been activated for military deployment.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has been selecting an Amateur Athlete of the Month each month since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.
Recent Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month:
2022
May Ismael Kone Track & Field University of New Orleans
April Tristyn Baugh Softball Archbishop Hannan High School
March Myles Burns Basketball Loyola University
February Kelsey Major Soccer Dominican High School
Jaylee Womack Basketball Ponchatoula High School
January Derek St. Hilaire Basketball University of New Orleans
2021
December Kyle Cannon Football St. Charles Catholic High School
November Kate Baker Volleyball Dominican High School
October Dai’Jean Dixon Football Nicholls State University
September Brian Jenkins Football Pearl River High School
August Christian Westcott Baseball New Orleans Boosters
July William Good Baseball Retif Oil Legion
June Raven Nunnery Track John Curtis Christian School
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 100 Hall of Fame players, 51 Hall of Fame coaches and 20 Heisman Trophy winners in its 88-year history. The 89th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will feature top teams from the SEC and the Big 12, is scheduled to be played on December 31, 2022. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.2 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.
{Courtesy: release from Allstate Sugar Bowl}