Maya Palacio of CedarBridge Academy and Liam Evans of Saltus Grammar were the senior schools girls and boys winners of the 30th Denton Hurdle Memorial Awards held last night at Warwick Academy.

The awards, held to honour the late Denton Hurdle, are used to highlight, recognise and reward the top primary, middle and senior school student-athletes. Hurdle taught at Warwick Academy and excelled in football, cricket and volleyball, but his first love was rugby.

Palacio represented CedarBridge in a number of sports; basketball, volleyball, football, softball, cross country, track and field and badminton. Her passion, however, is field hockey and she is a member of Longtails and also plays for the senior national team. Palacio was a member of the Bermuda team at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico last November.

Palacio has maintained a GPA above 3.0 throughout her fours years at CedarBridge, making the honour roll. She has a passion for sports journalism and is presently a co-host on Teacher Talk on Magic 102.7 and has written articles for the Young Observer section in The Royal Gazette.

Kyrah Scraders from The Berkeley Institute received an honourable mention for her performances in representing Bermuda at the Carifta Games, Youth Olympics and the Junior CAC Games.

Evans, the senior schools boys winner, plays football for Premier Division side Robin Hood as well as the Under-18 national team. Evans was also invited to train with the senior national team in the build-up to the World Cup qualifying campaign. He is a prefect at his school as well as house captain.

As well as football, Evans represented Saltus in basketball, volleyball, badminton, track and field, softball, table tennis, tennis, cricket and cross country. He has received both an academic and athletic scholarship to attend Division One school Northern Kentucky University, in the fall.

An honourable mention went to Jah-Nhai Perinchief of CedarBridge Academy, who this year broke the BSSF senior school high jump record which was held by Rohaan Simons, his coach, and had stood since 1991. He also won gold in the NatWest Island Games in 2013 in Bermuda and silver in the Carifta Games.

All-rounder LeiLanni Nesbeth won the middle school girls division. She keeps busy representing Saltus in badminton, basketball, volleyball, cricket, cross country, football, softball, swimming, track and field and volleyball. She has remained on the school honour roll since joining Saltus.

A member of the Bermuda Under-15 and Under-17 women’s teams, Nesbeth also travelled with the boys Under-14 team on a tour to South Africa last year. Next year Nesbeth will attend school in England on a cricket scholarship.

Honourable mentions went to Brijette Basden of TN Tatem and Jya Ratteray-Smith of Sandys Secondary Middle School.

Jaiden Manders from TN Tatem was the middle school boys winner. He has remained on the honour role since attending TN Tatem and is school prefect and house captain. His talents lie mainly in football and cricket but he has also appeared on the basketball, track and field, cross country and volleyball teams.

The honourable mention recipients in middle school were Jayden Ming from Warwick Academy and Jalun Hassell from Sandys Secondary Middle School.

There was a tie in the primary girls division where Jade Johnston from West Pembroke, and Che’-Chulae’ Dowling from Purvis Primary, shared the honours.

Johnston is well known on the local running scene but she made significant contributions for her school in football, cricket and netball as well. The prefect and house captain has won the KPMG Front Street Mile for the last three years. She has also won a number of races in her age group including the Princess to Princess, Around the Grounds, Women in Sport 5k and Little Girl’s Rock Mile.

Dowling is deputy head girl, prefect and house captain at Purvis. She has represented Purvis in track and field, hockey, football, cricket and softball. She volunteers at Windreach and Spicelands and is an avid horse rider.

Honourable mentions went to T’aja Williams from East End Primary and Jerzi Trott-Riley from West End Primary. Both have led their schools in a wide range of sports including football, netball, track and field, hockey and cricket. Both are head girl and prefects and Williams is also a talented gymnast who will be representing Bermuda at this year’s NatWest Island Games.

William Noakes from Saltus and Eijaz Shakir from Purvis won the primary school boys award. Noakes is house captain and captained the football and rugby teams this year. He also participated in cricket, track and field, swimming, tennis and softball.

Shakir is the deputy head boy and house captain at Purvis Primary. The honour student has won four first place awards at his schools science fairs and has been enrolled into the Department of Education’s Gifted and Talented Education programme. He plays cricket and football for PHC.

Honourable mentions went to Sam Williamson from Warwick Academy and Khazi Sealey from Elliott Primary School. Williamson is a member of Sharks Swim Club and represents Bermuda.

Sealey is Deputy head boy at Elliot and house captain. He represents Bailey’s Bay in cricket and Hamilton Parish in football and is an all-star in both sports. He was the 2015 champion at the BSSF Cross Country Championships.