Varsity Athletics | 3/11/2026 3:02:00 PM

York University Lions women's badminton player Sophia Nong and men's track and field athlete Brandon Choumbe Yami have been named the York athletes of the week for the period ending Mar. 8. 

Nong, a kinesiology and health science student from Thornhill, Ont., was an OUA all-star for a fourth straight season as the Lions came just short of the podium, finishing fourth at the OUA championships last weekend. She also earned the female MVP award for the first time, bookending her York career with a second major award after taking the 2023 women's rookie of the year award after the program earned its first OUA banner since 1999. Nong won all but three of her matches at this year's event, going 4-1 in singles play and 4-2 in doubles action.

Choumbe Yami, a sprinter and relay runner from nearby Scarborough, Ont., won a pair of medals at this past weekend's U SPORTS track and field championships in Winnipeg. The kinesiology and health science student secured a silver medal in the men's 300m race, while leading a men's 4x200m relay team, along with Ibrahim Moustafa, Samuel Pinceau and Cameron Christian, that took silver in that event. The quartet followed up a gold at the OUA championships, while Choumbe Yami came in ranked 15th in the country in the 300m time despite winning OUA championship silver last month.