Aleia Hobbs, a world-class sprinter for the LSU Track & Field team, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month honour for May. This is the third time Hobbs has earned the monthly honour – she was also recognized in April of last year and in July of 2014. Monthly award-winners are chosen in voting by the Greater New Orleans Sports Award Selection Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Hobbs, a graduate of McMain High School, keyed LSU’s second-place finish at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships (May 11-13). In the preliminary heats of the 100-meter dash, she set a meet record with a time of 10.93 seconds and then in the finals, she broke that mark at 10.92 as she won her second straight SEC title in that event.
Hobbs followed that by anchoring the Tigers’ 4×100 relay team that dashed to a time of 42.05 seconds, the fastest in collegiate history. She followed up her SEC performance by winning the 100-meter dash at the NCAA East Regionals with a time of 10.90, the second-fastest in the world in 2018 and the third-fasted wind-legal time in NCAA history. A finalist for the Bowerman Award the top collegiate track athlete in the country, Hobbs will compete in the NCAA Championships (in the 100 and the 4×100) June 6-9 in Eugene, Ore.
Hobbs was selected over a strong field of nominees that included another collegiate track star, a high school baseball standout and three high school track and field state champions. The other collegiate sprinter was Shadae Hylton, who led SUNO to the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship by winning the 400-meter dash and keying the Lady Knights’ win in the 4×400 relay.
The high school baseball star was Jay Curtis, who batted .833 in May and belted the game-winning home run in John Curtis’ 2-1 state championship victory over St. Paul’s. The three high school track standouts were all multiple state champions this spring – Alia Armstrong from St. Katharine Drexel broke a pair of Class 2A records as she won the 100-meter hurdles (14.11) and the 300-meter hurdles (43.34); John Curtis’ Zechariah Blake won both the javelin (208-6) and the discus (163-4) at the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Class 2A state championship; and Sacred Heart’s Mary Nusloch was voted the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Class 3A Outdoor Track & Field Outstanding Performer after sweeping the 800, 1600 and 3,200-meter runs to lead her team to the state championship.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Selection 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.
Each of the monthly award winners will be honoured in the summer at the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
