NEW ORLEANS (April 9, 2024) – Seth Alexander, a national champion triple jumper from Xavier University of Louisiana, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for March. Monthly athletes of the month have been selected by the Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee 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. Alexander is the first XULA athlete to earn the honor since basketball star William Loyd was recognized in March of 2020.
 
Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month
 
A senior from Arnaudville, La., Alexander won his second consecutive NAIA national championship in the men's triple jump when he captured the indoor title on March 2 at Brookings, S.D. His winning jump was 15.42 meters/50 feet, 7 1/4 inches. Alexander was the NAIA outdoor national champion in this event in May 2023. He followed the same championship path indoors as he did 10 months earlier – his winning jump occurred on his second attempt, and he was the only jumper to reach 50 feet. Alexander is the only XULA athlete to win an NAIA national championship in track and field. The Gold Rush tied for 16th with Doane and The Master's in team scoring with 17 points – XULA's highest men's finish at NAIA indoor nationals. Alexander continued his success during the outdoor season by winning the triple jump at the Southern Miss Invitational March 29 – 15.10 meters/49 feet, 6 1/2 inches. He is a pharmacy major at XULA.
 
Alexander earned the honor in a very tight vote over three basketball stars, a pair of baseball standouts, and a state champion powerlifter.

• Giancarlo Arencibia had a sensational run of 17 innings of no-hit pitching over three victories in the month of March for the Archbishop Rummel baseball team. On March 26, the 6-2, 190-pound senior opened a crucial District 9-5A showdown with Jesuit with five perfect innings. The Blue Jays, who had defeated Rummel 1-0 in last year's LHSAA Division I Select state championship game, broke through with two singles in the sixth inning, but Arencibia worked out of the jam and closed out the 6-0 victory with 10 strikeouts. In his previous start on March 19 against St. Aug, he delivered five innings of no-hit ball in a 5-2 district victory. He struck out 11 batters, including striking out the side in the second and third innings, before coming out of the game due to pitch-count limits. On March 12, the Tulane signee delivered a complete-game no-hitter with five strikeouts in a key 3-0 district victory over John Curtis. It was just the third Rummel victory over Curtis in their last 16 meetings and it was Arencibia's third no-hitter in the last two seasons. The senior ace also picked up the win on March 7 in a 17-5 decision over Fontainebleau. In four March starts, Arencibia posted four victories, allowing five hits over 22 innings with a 0.95 ERA while striking out 35 batters to lift Rummel to the top of District 9-5A.
• Sandra Cannady, a grad student for the Loyola University women's basketball team, closed her spectacular collegiate career with a strong month of March, leading the Wolf Pack to the NAIA Round of 16. In five March games, Cannady averaged 14.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.0 steals per game as Loyola posted a 4-1 mark. She scored 30 points to go with eight rebounds in a 71-63 win over Mobile in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Championship game. It was the seventh SSAC title for the Wolf Pack and the second time that Loyola won both the SSAC regular season and tournament titles. Cannady, who was the SSAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row, opened the NAIA Tournament with a 23-point performance in a win over Southeastern Florida and then posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Georgetown (Ky.). The sixth-seeded Wolf Pack fell in the Round of 16 to No. 2 seed Carroll College (Mont.). Carroll went on to reach the Final Four. The 6-1 Cannady, from The Woodlands, Texas, closes her career as the ninth-leading scorer (1,427) in program history. She is also third in rebounds (915) and third in blocks (87).
• Delgado third baseman Rhett Centanni batted .387 during the month of March (24 for 62) with 13 runs, seven extra base hits and 24 RBIs to lead Delgado Baseball to a program record twenty-one consecutive wins and three national rankings. Defensively, he fielded .947, 11 putouts and 43 assists.
• Dwayne Coleman, from Salmen High School, established himself as Louisiana's strongest high school power lifter of all time at the LHSAA state championship in Lafayette on March 23. A 462-pound senior, Coleman was named the Outstanding Lifter for the 181-pound to super heavyweight classes for Division II after a three-lift total of 2,005 pounds. He had a bench press of 500 pounds, a deadlift of 630 pounds and a squat of 875 pounds to reach the record number – he followed that up by squatting 900 pounds to set a state record in that event as well. After missing his first squat attempt at 845, he hit his second and lifted 875 pounds on his third attempt.
• Allen Graves, the 6-10 Ponchatoula boys basketball star, had three tremendous games in March as he led the second-seeded Green Wave to the LHSAA Division I nonselect state championship. In the state title game, the big man scored 19 points to go with 20 rebounds and eight blocked shots in a 75-60 victory over No. 5 Natchitoches Central, 75-60, on March 9. He was named the most outstanding player of the championship game as Ponchatoula earned its second straight state championship. The senior, who was dominant all season, was actually limited in the state semifinals as No. 3 New Iberia slowed the game down in hopes of lessening Graves' impact – he scored just nine points, but added 13 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists in a 34-26 victory. In a 95-64 state quarterfinal win over No. 7 Slidell, Graves, who has signed with Santa Clara, was dominant with 37 points, 16 rebounds, six blocks, four assists and two steals. For the month, Graves averaged, 21.7 points, 16.3 rebounds, 5.3 blocks, 2.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He was named Mr. Louisiana Basketball after making the First-Team All-State team again. He has signed with Santa Clara.
• Dwight Magee, a sophomore guard for the Crescent City boys' basketball team, averaged 26.7 points in three March state tournament games as he led the top-seeded Pioneers to the LHSAA Division IV state championship. After going to the bench with three fouls in the second quarter, Magee scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half as Crescent City defeated No. 2 St. Martin's in the title game. Magee was named the championship game's Most Outstanding Player after adding 11 rebounds while going 12-of-17 from the free-throw line. "Once I got out, I was ready to come back in, be there for my team and help us out," said Magee, who patiently waited as other players helped the Pioneers take a six-point lead into the break. Magee scored 25 points to go with eight steals in the Pioneers' 62-55 victory over Lincoln Prep in the semifinals. He was also sensational with 30 points in a 73-45 win over No. 8 St. Frederick in the quarterfinals on March 1.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 90-year history. The 91st Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2025. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.