Cycling, Volleyball, And Football Takes Center Stage

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. As we kick off 2025, there’s plenty of excitement in the world of sports here in Belize. Cory Williams has already made headlines by narrowly beating Oscar Quiroz in the New Year’s Cycling Classic. And just this past Sunday, Kaya Cattouse stole the show in the Imani Women’s Road Race, which spanned an impressive ninety-five miles from Cotton Tree Village to Santa Elena Town, finishing up in Belize City. 

 

Veteran Cattouse and Junior Rider Iranie Baki rolled into Belize City with a significant lead over the main peloton. On Cemetery Road, Cattouse signaled Baki to rotate the pace heading in.  Shortly after, Cattouse launched a massive attack, with Baki right on her wheel. 2:37:35 As Khaya Cattouse neared the finish line, she kept glancing back at Baki, who was hot on her heels. The seasoned rider clinched the 95-mile race in style, with Baki finishing a close second. After the race, some fans argued that Cattouse, with her vast experience, shouldn’t compete in these events, while others felt she should have let the junior rider win as a gesture of support. Later that Sunday, Cattouse took to Facebook, saying,  “people hate on LeBron because he’s the goat…that’s the only reason they have…. with 18 years of high-level racing experience under my belt, I am the goat bout ya. Nobody neva gi me this, I earned it!”.  She also gave a brief interview to Andrew Ordonez immediately after her victory.

 

Kaya Cattouse, Pro Cyclist
“In terms of the competition, a lot of people might watch he race and say you the race out of your class and so, but I nuh get yah over night. It has been eighteen years of racing and putting in the work to be able to have the legs. I am thirty-five-years-old the race with deh young gial, at some point youth will overcome. Until then we will war to the finish. Kudos to all the ladies weh race today. We have to race. Some teams have to think strategy.”

 

Switching gears to another talented female athlete, Khaya Gordon from Belize’s National Volleyball Team is set to make her debut in the NCAA Division One Women’s Volleyball Tournament at Clemson University in South Carolina. Gordon, a four-time national team medalist, had an impressive 2023, helping Navarro University secure a third-place finish in the NJCAA. Just three months ago, she hit a career-high with twenty-three kills against Trinity Valley Community College. During her time at Navarro, she earned First and Second Team All-Conference honors, among many other accolades. Now, she’s already training hard at Clemson. We caught up with her to chat about her expectations for the upcoming season.

 

Khaya Gordon, Student Athlete, Clemson University

“I am new here, but I am up for the challenge. I am ready to see these other high-level athletes. When you see other high-level athletes, you are like I want to do that too, I can do that, let me show you something. And, I just think moving forward our team with that mindset of working hard. We don’t have to rank extremely high, but moving up, that is like a big change for the program. That is how I am thinking. I know my coach Jackie here mentioned how dynamic I am and I would like to run different plays and do all the crazy, fun stuff, to enjoy volleyball and I am very excited for that. I think that our team moving forward with that mindset of working hard and moving up and getting Clemosn and everyone fired up.”

 

Clemson ranked seventeenth of eighteen teams in the 2024 season. Gordon certainly has her work cut out for her.

 

On Friday night, the lights were on inside the Marion Jones Sporting Complex as the Belize District Football Association continues its 2024-2025 First Division Season. Going into the weekend, TutBay was ranked as the top team this season, followed by Survivors FC in second and Lake-I F.C .in third position. On Friday, Survivors F.C. played against sixth place team Ceasar Ridge F.C. Eleven minutes into this one, Raheem Eagan for Ceasar Ridge capitalized on this pass from midfield. He fought off one defender, the goalkeeper hit the ground, and Eagan made an easy touch into the goal.  Seven minutes later, Survivor’s Tyrique Ciego get a beautiful pass in front of the goal. He had time to square up and launch a bullet into the net. At the thirty-fourth minute, Troy Augustine jumped several feet off the ground to put the ball into the goal with a header, off a beautiful corner kick. The second goal for Ceasar Ridge F.C. came at the start of the second half. Devin McCauley secured that one. But, in the end, Survivors F.C. won the match with four goals, to Ceasar Ridge F.C.’s two goals.

 

The BDFA is hosting an exciting Regional Under-Fifteen Females Tournament. On Saturday, Alvian Strikers faced off against Royal Fusion at Berger Field. Sheren Humes put Fusion on the board with a goal in the ninth minute, but Demika Jones leveled the score for Alvian Strikers in the seventeenth minute, ending the game in a draw. In the second match of the day, Goal Getters took on KP Strikers and dominated the field, scoring twice—once in the tenth minute and again in the forty-eighth minute. Unfortunately for KP Strikers, they couldn’t find the back of the net.

 

Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.