Griffith Australia Day Sporting Awards
MANY Griffith athletes, teams and volunteers shone on and off the sporting field in 2018.
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The Australia Day Sports Awards recognise the contributions and achievements of many of these star performers in four categories – Junior Sportsperson of the Year, Senior Sportsperson of the Year, Team of the Year and Club Person of the Year.
The nominees have been finalised and winners will be announced at the Griffith City Council’s Australia Day ceremony on January 26. The Griffith Sports Council will also announce the Overall Sportsperson of the Year at the event.
Junior Sportsperson of the Year
Marcel Zuccato: Marcel represented Australia in the trans-Tasman Archery competition during the year. After a nervous start saw Marcel sitting in the eighth position a chat between the shooter and coach Ben Pawson saw Marcel prove he had earned the Green & Gold shirt taking out the silver medal. Marcel finished with a bronze n the triple team’s match play and gold in the double team’s match play.
Jordan Jasnos: It has been a busy year for the talented footballers. She has represented at local, state and National level throughout 2018. It was the fourth year in succession that Jordan had been selected for the NSW Country side. The highlight of her year was her selection in the Junior Matildas team who travelled to Kyrgyzstan.
Christian Callcut: Christian represented at primary schools Nationals in 2018 for Athletics. Coming home with a Silver in the high jump after a countback for the first place with a height of 1.62m. Christian also competed in the 800m medley bringing home a silver. And place 6th in the long jump.
Kahlan Spencer: Kahlan was selected in the NSW Combined High Schools’ AFL side after a strong performance at the NSWCHS under 15s carnival. Spencer was one of over 200 under 15s boys at the carnival held in Blacktown which was then dwindled down to 25 who were selected in the NSW side to play in the National Championships.
Timeeka Coleman: Timeeka had a great year out on court as she was selected in many different representative sides. She played for the Griffith Demons, Riverina Primary Schools, Western Reds and D League which showcases 40 of the best Country and Metro NSW players. She also captained the Beelbangera School team and led her side to fourth in the state.
Abby Favell: Abby continued to make an impact on the AFL field after being selected for the NSW/ACT under 16s girls side. Favell was one of four girls from the Southern Academy to be selected in the side who will take on Victoria Country in Albury in June. The talented sportswoman was also apart of the Griffith Swans under 17s side who won the South West Juniors Youth Girls competition.
Chaise Sergi: Chaise has had a strong year across many different sports. He has competed at a zone level in breaststroke and attended state athletics to compete in 100m, 200m and long jump. Chaise also represented Group 20 in the under 13s side and excelled at school level with the team making it to Sydney with the youngster playing at hooker. Chaise has been invited to compete in Canada in June-July next year for track and field.
Ethan Donetto: Ethan has had a good year on the football field and athletics track. In the final for the 400m event at the NSW Junior Athletics Championship which qualified him for the NSW team. At the Australian Junior Athletics Championship, he finished fourth. As part of the Griffith winning branch title team, Donetto was selected in the NSW Country team for the under 14s age group.
Senior Sportsperson of the Year
Sharyn Millis: Sharyn represented Australia three times as a member of the Australian Kettlebell Team. This year she earned a Silver medal in the 16kg one Arm Long Cycle and a bronze medal in the 16kg snatch. She coached Michelle Prince, who earned a place on the Australian Kettlebell Team and earned a Bronze medal.
Sharyn is an executive member of the Giveroy Sports Australia. She organised for a Giveroy Sports Australia Association Regional Competition to be held in Griffith which brought publicity and support to the Griffith Sporting Community.
Sharyn organised a fundraiser for the Breast cancer Awareness called Barbells for Boobs, which was very successful and raised much-needed funds for the Breast Cancer.
Leticia Franchi: Leticia won the Victorian, NSW and Australian Full contact titles in Kyokushin Karate in 2018. And is competing in the World Cup in China November 18-19th 2018. She has trained harder in the last two years with the prize of World Champion in mind. Leticia also took out the Riverina Championships.
Bart Brighenti: Bart is a member of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia. And is one of the best sporting clay shooters in Australia.
Bart has previously won several Sporting Clay and 5 stand National championships conducted by the sporting shooters association of Australia and other national championships conducted by clay sporting Australia in SA earlier this year he was placed equal 4th in the final Australian selection team and at the Field and Game National Championships at Bairnsdale, with 550 competitions was highly placed.
He has represented Australia a number of times both in NZ and at other international sporting clays championships and is a worthy ambassador for the sport, Griffith and Australia.
Sports Team of the Year
Griffith North Public School Basketball Team: The boy's side entered the 2018 NSW PSSA Primary Schools knockout competition. The competition is a state-wide basketball competition for public primary schools.
The boy's side won 4 games in the Riverina area which made them the Riverina Champions. As the Riverina’s top side the boys then travelled to Sydney on 17th September. For the top 8 state finals, the boys won their first game against Narranga PS, a school from Coffs Harbour.
They were then into the semi-finals. They lost the semi-final to Telarah PS and ended up finishing equal 3rd in the State knockout competition.
Lake Wyangan Public School girls soccer team: They went onto the PSSA champions against South Wagga with a 1-0 win. These girls came up against Shoalhaven heads in the PSSA quarterfinals with a 0-0 draw after extra time. But sadly, missed out on advancing to the next round due to Shoalhaven having two corners to 1. The school only has 117 kids and have to compete against schools with 600 plus kids.
Riverina Rhinos under 13s premiers: The side finished with a record of 19 wins, five draws and only two losses. It required a huge commitment from the players as they travelled to Canberra and back to play at 11am 15 times during the season. Nine of the members were selected for Country Camps, and six players were chosen to represent Country NSW. They secured the title with a 2-1 win over Belconnen.
Wade High School under 15s 4x100m relay: This particular team won the Riverina Championship and broke a 10-year-old record in a time of 53 seconds. The girls then competed in the NSWCHS Championships where they qualified for the finals as the fastest team. In the final, the girls won the NSW State Title in a time of 51.09 seconds, which was only one-hundredth of a second outside the NSW record and were named as Wade High Schools team of the year for 2018.
Club Person of the Year
Roy Binks: Tireless effort with Junior Cricket in Griffith. Roy has been instrumental in the development of junior cricket in Griffith for a number of years. Roy can be seen at Milo cricket one day and then driving around and checking on the junior and senior Bradman competitions each week.
Gerald (Gerry) Cox: Gerry Cox has been a member of the Griffith Golf Club for over 40 years. He is passionate about the game and about making the Griffith Golf Club the best venue in Regional NSW for Golfers of all ages to participate in the sport.
John Bortolazzo: John Bortolazzo joined the club in 1971 and in 1978 was elected to serve on the board as a director in 1978. With the first three years served as a club handicapper. John was then elected to the position of Club secretary, a term he held for the next 11 years. John has been the publicity officer since 1975.
Rob Donovan: Rob almost single-handedly formed the Griffith Waratah Junior Rugby League Club a decade ago. From a small beginning, the club had over 250 players last season. It is the biggest club in group 20 and won the 2018 Club Championship. Griffith WJRL has purchased a bus which transports players to away games. Rob drives the bus, picks up the kids from Parkinson Cres, the three ways and Pioneer. He provides food and cares for kids on these days.
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