BATON ROUGE — LSU track star Richard Thompson has been honored by the National Amateur Athletic Association in his native Trinidad as he was presented with this year’s NAAA Male Athlete of the Year award at an awards banquet in Port of Spain on Friday.
Thompson, a senior from Cascade, Trinidad, was this year’s recipient following an outstanding 2007 season highlighted by an appearance in the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
He punched his ticket to the World Championships with a silver-medal winning performance in the 100-meter dash at the Sagicor National Open Track and Field Championships in June. After clocking a new personal best time of 10.09 seconds in the semifinal round, Thompson crossed the finish line with a wind-aided time of 9.95 in the final to take second place at the meet.
Thompson followed that performance by winning a gold medal in the 100-meter dash and leading Trinidad and Tobago’s sprint relay team to a gold medal at the North America, Central America and Caribbean Championships in El Salvador this past summer.
In addition, Thompson earned his first career individual All-America honor in the 100 meters as he helped lead LSU to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif., in June. He took fifth place in the event while also running the second leg on the 4×100-meter relay team that was the NCAA runner-up for 2007.
Thompson received his award at a ceremony held at the Crowne Plaza Ballroom in Port of Spain on Friday. The organization also honored Cleopatra Borel-Brown as this year’s Female Athlete of the Year and inducted former track stars Edwin Skinner and Ian Morris into its hall of fame.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are set to kick off the 2008 season next weekend as they play host to the Purple Tiger Classic at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Jan. 19.