James Clemens Makes History: Sweep Metro Track Awards
MADISON- For the first time in the history of the Metro Coaches Association, the organization named its track coach, male and female athletes of the year from the same school. The awards were handed out to James Clemens as head coach Drew Bell was named Coach of the Year, Collier Robinson was chosen as Male Athlete of the Year and Ashlee Osaji was tabbed as the Female Athlete of the Year.
Bell has won the Coach of the Year title for four consecutive years. This year he led his squad to Metro Championships in both boys and girls, a third place finish for the girls and ninth place for the boys in the State Indoor Championships and a fourth place for the girls and 14th for the boys at the State Outdoor Championships.
“It’s easy to win awards when you have many superb athletes and an outstanding coaching staff like we have at James Clemens,” said Bell. “I’m proud of the award and I think it’s a reflection of our program. This has been a good run for me and our program. I hope we keep it together.”
Robinson, a senior, topped the Metro Track Meet with 28 points as he won both the long and triple jumps and placed second in the high jump. He finished among the top 20 at the State Decathlon Championships.
“I was definitely surprised winning this award, as I felt I didn’t do that well this season, but at the Metro Meet I performed just good enough,” said Robinson, who hopes to walk on the track program at Auburn University where he will study computer science. “I’m very proud to win as it demonstrates the success of my hard work. I hope I can keep up the hard work in college.”
Osaji, a junior, was part of the all-time record setting 4X400 relay squad at the State Outdoor Track Meet where she also took second in the long jump and third in the triple jump. At the Metro Meet, she won both the long and triple jumps and took third place in the 400-meter to gather in 30.5 points. The superior athlete also placed third in the State Heptathlon Championship with 4,137 points.
“I feel blessed to win the award as I did work hard through all kinds of weather conditions during the season and off season,” said Osaji. “My teammates, coaches and I pushed when things got difficult. We made it to state a year ago when I was a sophomore and that pushed me to get back there again this year.”
