Alia Armstrong, an All-American hurdler for the LSU track and field team, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Outstanding Female Amateur Athlete of the Year from the New Orleans area for 2022-23. The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Amateur Athletes of the Month and each year’s Hall of Fame class.
Armstrong, a graduate of St. Katharine Drexel, continued her collegiate dominance in 2023. The junior star for the LSU Tigers ran the fastest all-conditions 100-meter hurdle time in collegiate history with a mark of 12.31 seconds in the semifinals of the SEC Outdoor Championships. In the finals, she turned in a non-wind-aided time of 12.40 seconds, which ranks third in NCAA history and is the SEC record. In addition to winning gold in that event, she was part of LSU’s winning 4x100-meter relay team. Following the SEC Championships, Armstong posted the fastest legal time of the day (12.59) in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA East Regionals to qualify for nationals where she earned a third-place finish with a time of 12.49 seconds to earn her fourth First Team All-America distinction. She also helped the Tigers’ 4x100 relay team to a third-place finish to add more All-America recognition.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has recognized the top amateur athletes from the New Orleans area since 1978. Armstrong also earned the honor last year as she becomes the sixth female to be selected multiple times.
The other finalists for New Orleans’ Outstanding Female Amateur Athlete honor were Carla Bernat (Tulane Golf), Kristen O’Handley (Tulane Track & Field), and Ellie Schneider (Country Day Volleyball/Basketball/Softball). Bernat, a sophomore who climbed as high as No. 6 in the GolfStat NCAA Division I women's golf rankings, became the first Tulane golfer to earn American Athletic Conference Golfer of the Year honors. O’Handley, a star in the pentathlon, became Tulane’s first indoor track All-American since 2016 and then followed that by earning All-America recognition at the outdoor track national championships. Schneider, who is committed to play volleyball at Kansas, led Country Day to the LHSAA Division V volleyball state championship and was also a star for the Cajuns’ basketball and softball teams.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 67th year in 2023.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. The 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2024. 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 nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
