Ramapo Roadrunner Named 'Most Outstanding Athlete Of The Year'

MAHWAH, NJ — A Ramapo College middle-distance runner was named the G. Larry James Most Outstanding Athlete of the Year.

Cheickna Traore, a 6-foot, 3-inches tall senior who owns his region's fastest times in the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes (and ranks in the top five nationally in both) was selected for the New Jersey Athletic Conference award, the NJAC said.

The 150-pound athlete was honored with the award for the second-straight indoor track & field season, highlighting his team's performance at the NJAC Championships, where the Roadrunners earned all-conference honors, the college said.

"Winning the award brings a great sense of pride and accomplishment to the track and field team," Traore told Patch. "It serves as recognition of the hard work and dedication required to achieve success in the sport that I've devoted countless hours to perfecting my craft."

Traore defended his titles from a year ago in the 60-meter and 200-meter events, posting a time of 21.35 seconds in the 200-meter dash — an NJAC Championship Meet record. His winning time in the 60-meter race (6.81 seconds) was one-hundredths of a second off his own NJAC Championship record time. He also ran on Ramapo's second-place 4-by-400-meter relay team.

The Jersey City native holds the third-fastest time in the National College Athletic Association Division 3 (21.27 seconds) in the 200-meter dash, and the fifth-fastest time in the 60-meter dash (6.76 seconds), while both are the fastest times in the NCAA Metro Region.

For Traore's efforts in the individual events, he was named First Team All-Conference. His second-place relay team, made up also of Terrell Lockett, Max Dubac, and Kenyon Fenderson, earned Second Team All-Conference, after clocking 3 minutes, 21.49 seconds — the fourth fastest in the region this season.

Traore was determined as Most Outstanding Athlete by a vote of the league's head coaches. The special award was named after G. Larry James, a former Olympic champion runner who served as coach and athletic director at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey.

"For Cheickna to win (this award) two years in a row is a tremendous accomplishment and well-deserved," men's track and field coach Justina Cassavell said. "He is extremely talented, humble, and embodies what it means to be a Roadrunner student athlete."