BATON ROUGE — The 2008 season proved to be a breakout campaign for LSU middle distance star LaTavia Thomas, and she will add to her impressive resume in January as she will receive the Frank Dolson Penn Relays from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.
Thomas will accept the award at the organization’s 105th annual awards banquet to be held on the night of Jan. 26 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Thomas, a native of Philadelphia, put on a show for the hometown fans at the 114th running of the Penn Relays this past April as she became just the fourth Lady Tiger in program history to be named the College Women’s Athlete of the Meet for relay events after anchoring the Lady Tigers to a pair of Championship of America titles in the 4×800-meter relay and sprint medley relay.
She continued a proud tradition for the Lady Tigers at the Penn Relays as Cheryl Taplin (1994), D’Andre Hill (1996) and Muna Lee (2003) have also earned recognition as the College Women’s Athlete of the Meet for relay events in the meet’s storied history. In addition, Kelly Baptiste is the only Lady Tiger to be named the College Women’s Individual Athlete of the Meet in 2006.
This marks the third-straight year that the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association has honored an athlete from the Penn Relays as Florida State’s Garrett Johnson received the inaugural award after the 2006 season and Michigan’s Anna Willard was honored following the 2007 season.
The award is named in honor of columnist Frank Dolson, a supporter of the Penn Relays who also served as sports editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer for nearly 50 years prior to his death in 2006.