Sport
25 October, 2023
Sports stars recognised
LOCAL sports stars were among those toasted for their continued achievements during an award ceremony last Friday.
LOCAL sports stars were among those toasted for their continued achievements during an award ceremony last Friday.
Member for Wannon Dan Tehan hosted the 2023 Wannon Sport and Volunteer Awards in Mortlake last Friday.
“The Wannon Sport and Volunteer Awards provides the opportunity for not only me but the community to express its congratulations to our recipients,” Mr Tehan he said.
Congratulations to the following award recipients:
Eli Kerr (swimming)
Eli, a year six student at Timboon P-School, has been actively involved in and around the water from a young age, training diligently to improve his swimming stroke and fitness.
He recently had two impressive wins at major carnivals including six gold medals at the 2023 Victoria Country Short Course Swimming Championships in Wangaratta.
He also won four gold and two silver at the Victorian Age Short Course Championships at Albert Park.
He currently trains three to four times a week at the Warrnambool Swimming Club and is an active member of the Port Campbell Surf Life Saving Club.
Port Campbell Rockets under 23 Boys Surf Boat Crew
Team members Mitchell Gristede, Charlie Trotter, Campbell McKenzie and Ben Matthews achieved impressive results during the season, culminating in a top-eight finish at the Surf Life Saving Australian Championships.
In January they qualified to represent Victoria and recently won the Victorian under 17 open team of the year award.
The boys all hold leadership roles at the Port Campbell club as patrol captains and regularly help out when needed – from cooking barbeques to helping officials on carnival days.
Colin Silcock-Delaney (sprint running)
At the sprightly age of 90, Colin attended this year’s Australian Master’s Athletics Championships and won gold in the 1500m, silver in 200m, 400m and 80m and bronze in the 100m dash.
A seasoned runner, Colin is a veteran of 100 marathons and a life member of the Melbourne Marathons Spartans Club.
Kirstie Newcombe (para-athlete)
In 2021 Kirstie received the Australian Sports Medal from the Governor General after representing Australia in the INAS Games at Brisbane.
She also received the outstanding achiever individual athlete program award and the overall excellent award at the South West Academy of Sport awards night.
Earlier this year Kirstie won three gold medals at the Victorian Country Championships for the 100, 400 and 1500m ambulant events, while narrowly missing out in the 200m and 800m events with silver.
Wannon Zone Pony Club (D Grade Show jumping team)
The team consists of Mia Rose, Bethany Dyson, Zoe Addinsall and Olvier Homer.
They travelled to Melbourne to compete in the Pony Club Victoria State Show Jumping Championships and finished third overall.
Milly Illingworth (cricket)
Milly recently earned a maiden state contract with Cricket Victoria.
The right armed pace bowler, who has been clocked upwards of 120km/h, made her Victorian debut in February after representing Australia in the women’s under 19 Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
She recorded match-best figures of 4-41 on debut against Western Australia.
A year 12 student at Emmanuel College, Milly is juggling her studies and playing cricket for Essendon club, Maribyrnong Park.
Stuart Pearson (water carrier)
Stuart reached a special club milestone with the Cobden Football Netball Club when he achieved 350 games as water carrier.
Stuart decided to volunteer more than a decade ago and never envisaged he’d still be running out on the ground 350 games later.
Stuart joined the Cobden Bombers 15 years ago and runs water for the under 18s and reserves each week.
