Griffith Australia Day Sporting Awards
MANY Griffith athletes, teams and volunteers shone on and off the sporting field in 2019.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
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.
The winner of each category will be announced at the official Australia Day ceremony which commences at 10am on Sunday at Woodside Hall with the Griffith Regional Theatre undergoing renovations.
Junior Sportsperson of the Year
Wyatt Carter
The young karate fighter has had a strong year. Having made the decision to move up to heavyweight division due to no opponents in his original division of middleweight.
Going up against opponents that were 15kgs heavy than Carter didn't slow him down as he came away with successful results with silver at in the 8-9yrs Padded Contact Heavy Weight Padded Contact at the Riverina Championships.
He also picked up gold at the NSW Kyokushin Championships in the middle weight division.
Abby Favell
Not only is the talented football player lightning up the fields, she is also continues to give back to her community through her involvement with junior and senior sports.
Alongside her achievements playing women's AFL which saw he take out the Murray Bushrangers Best and Fairest she was also selected in a number of representative school side while also helping to coach school teams from St Francis and St Josephs Primary Schools in Leeton.
Timeeka Coleman
The talented basketballer has continued to progress in her chosen sport. Coleman was selected to tour NS for the Australian Country NSW Basketball Cup side selected for the Country Cup while she was also picked in the Basketball NSW Talented Athlete Program in Sydney which is a part of the State Performance Program
Kai Suine
Another of the talented basketballers from Griffith. Kai was selected to tour New Zealand at Easter time after his selection in the Australian Touring side from the Country NSW Junior Cup held in Albury early last year.
Jess Conlan
The up-and-coming netball player was selected in the NSW State Netball 17s side who played at Nationals in Brisbane early in 2019. Conlan was able to work her way into the starting side after solid performances in the early rounds.
Senior Sportsperson of the Year
Eliza Baddock
It has been a year to remember for Baddock on the touch field. After gaining attention playing for the Eastern Suburb Roosters in the Sydney Vawdon Cup competition, Baddock was selected to trail for the Australian World Cup teams in Brisbane.
Baddock was selected into the Australian Women's 27s team who competed at the Touch Football World Cup in Malaysia. The side made the final and took out the silver medal. She was the only Country NSW representative in the team.
Along with her touch achievements, Baddock helped the Yenda All Stars Rugby League team take out the Albury 9s carnival for the third year in a row and also played a role in the Griffith Blacks women's team who were crowned premiers in the SIRU competition.
Baddock was also a key component and assistant coach of the Yenda Bluesheilas League Tag side who reached the finals series.
Jennifer Massey
Massey has had a great year on the bike in 2019. She came away with gold medals in the NSW Master's Road Race Championships, NSW Master's Criterium Championship and Australian Master's Road Race Championships alongside a bronze medal in the Australian Master's Criterium Championships and a third place at Blayney to Bathurst Cycling Classic.
Sports Team of the Year
Murrumbidgee Regional High School Under 16s Rugby Team
The MRHS side took out the NSW CHS Buchan Shield Under 16s State Championship after defeating Tomaree High School from Nelson Bay in the grand final 22-20.
The boys played a number of games often having to travel 4-5 hours to play one game. Most of the team are made up of Rugby League players and local Griffith Blacks players. Two members of the team were selected in the Riverina CHS Opens Rugby team despite only being in year 10.
Griffith North Public School Boys Basketball Team
The Griffith North side are the 2019 NSW Primary Schools State Knockout Basketball Champions. After winning the local rounds and the Riverina rounds of the basketball competition, the side travelled to Sydney for the 'Top 8' finals in early November.
The side defeated Timbumburi Public School from Tamworth before seeing of Merewether Public School from Newcastle. The Griffith side took out the final over Mount St Thomas from Wollongong with a 47-39 win.
The Griffith North side have been a young emerging team for the past two years, finishing third in 2018 and this year they were able to take that step forward.
Griffith East Public School AFL Team
The Griffith East Public School side competed in the NSW Primary School knockout which comprised of over 300 teams from across NSW. The side saw off the challenges from the local teams before taking a convincing win over West Wyalong Public School and then defeated Finley Public School in the quarter final.
The semi final and final were both played in Sydney and after a win over South Wagga Public School, Griffith East secured the title with a 42-7 win over Kings Langley. It was the third consecutive year Griffith East had made the state finals.
Club Person of the Year
Lorraine Maxwell
Maxwell has worked tirelessly for the last 20 years promoting several different sporting organisations in Griffith with her most recent examples as part of the Griffith Hockey Association and Griffith Tennis club. She donates countless hours every week, organising teams, preparing the fields, working as a referee and many other roles.
She advocates for sports, brings in new members and does absolutely everything she can to enhance the sporting culture and environment in Griffith.
Anthony Salmon
Since joining the club in January of 2011, Salmon has had a significant impact for the Griffith Feral Joggers. He has served as the club's secretary since 2015. During his time at the club, he has gone out of his way to make new members feel welcome and is well respected by club members.
Salmon is always involved in the planning of club activities and actively participates in working bees, setting up and packing up major events, organises the timing for Half on the Hill and maintains Bacchus and Half on the Hill websites.
Gail Colling
Colling has been an integral part of the Griffith Hockey Association for over 32 years. She has held a variety of positions on the associations from vice president to junior development coordinator. She has been involved in nearly every aspect of the association including being a player, fundraising volunteer and organiser, umpire, coach and tech official often all in the one weekend.
She has trained and helped the development of many juniors during her training sessions she has run over the past 15 years and has helped to grow the number of juniors in the association dramatically over this time.
Colling is always one of the first to arrive and last to leave at any event run by the Griffith Hockey Association and was recognised as a life member in 2015.
Leigh-Anne Johnson
Johnson has been coach of the Waratah Tigers junior league tag side for the past six years and has not only taken her team to three grand finals she is very much the girls mentor.
The care for the girls Johnson has shown is clear to see as she is always asking if there is anything she can help the girls with and also helps make sure the kids are looking after themselves and address the issues of bullying, self-image, self-care and respect.
Johnson also played a role in the Bidgee Bulls side playing in the Canberra Women's Rugby League competition.
RELATED
***
While you're with us, did you know that The Area News is now offering sports as part of its growing email newsletter service? Our sports email will keep the sports-mad up-to-date with a round-up of all the weekend's sports action - sign up here.