The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

An elite athlete on the international stage for more than a decade, Leevan Sands is accustomed to receiving accolades, the most recent coming from his high school alma mater.

Sands was honored by Florida Air Academy in a special ceremony on Saturday at the campus in Melbourne, Florida, celebrating his list of accomplishments throughout a storied career.

The school chose to honor Sands as apart of its Fall Family Weekend and 50th Anniversary Celebrations.

Sands presented school president James Dwight with a jersey and spikes worn at the 2012 London Olympics.

In his time at FAA, Sands became one of the most decorated athletes in the school’s history, with several records still standing.

After dominating at the Carifta level, in 1998 he moved to FAA where he won Florida’s Gatorade Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year in 1999.

In his senior season he won three Class 3A State Championships, in the triple jump, high jump and long jump for the Falcons.

His leap of leap of 52’ 8” still stands as the state indoor high school record in the triple jump.

Sands credited his time at FAA for helping to “groom him and prepare him for college,” both physically and mentally.

He began in the collegiate ranks at Barton Community College, where he won 2002 NJCAA National meet and set an NJCAA National Meet record in Triple Jump and placed first in the in Long Jump.

After two years at BCC he transferred to Auburn University, where he became a 2-Time NCAA Outdoor Champion, 4-Time NCAA All-America and 2004 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Internationally in 2001 he won silver at the Senior CAC in Guatemala City in the Long Jump, in 2002 at the Commonwealth Games he took bronze, won gold at the London Norwich Union British Grand Prix in theTriple Jump.

In 2003 he won gold at CAC in St. Georges in triple Jump, bronze at the World Championships in Triple Jump and was ranked eigth in the world in his signature event.

In 2005 at the CAC games he won gold in the Long Jump and bronze in Triple Jump. In the same year, he finished fifth at the World Athletics Final and fourth at the World Championships.

He finished sixth at the 2007 Pan American Games and returned as a contender to the international scene.

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing Sands secured his place among the giants of Bahamian Track and Field icons when he took bronze in the Triple Jump with a personal best of 17.59m which stands as the current Bahamian national record.

In the London Olympics, Sands finished fifth in the triple jump after landing awkwardly on his knee during his fourth attempt.

He had successful successful surgery to repair his patellae tendinitis, or what is commonly called ‘Jumper’s Knee,” and is currently in the rehabilitation process.

FAA is a private co-ed boarding school founded in 1961 by Jonathan Dwight, located in Melbourne, Florida.

Students grade 6–12 are provided college-preparatory education.

There are 300 students and 45 faculty members.

The school has a notable list of athletic alumni, including Detroit Tigers first baseman - Prince Fielder, Memphis Grizzlies center - Jerome Jordan and former collegiate basketball standouts Walter Hodge and Sasha Kaun.