Southern Grampians athletes perform in academy
Southern Grampians Shire is very well represented in the South West Academy of Sport (SWAS) with 14 athletes competing in five sports. This has increased from 7 athletes in 2006/07 and it is anticipated that the growth will continue.
Southern Grampians Shire currently sits ahead of Colac Otway 4, Glenelg 12 and Moyne 11 in SWAS representation and trails Warrnambool and Corangamite, both with 23 athletes.
The Southern Grampians athletes have enjoyed an outstanding year with a handful of National performances and many state level achievements including the following summary.
Hamilton rowing powerhouse, Rod Evans (pictured) recently placed sixth in the Junior Male Heavyweight Division at the 2007 Australian Indoor Rowing Championships and made it through to 2nd Stage Selection of the Victorian under 19 'Rising Athletes' State Squad missing out at stage three
Rod said “There was some very tough competition from some of the big Melbourne rowing schools and I am at the bottom of my age this year and will come back next year for another attempt”
Rod is preparing for a state and National assault early in the New Year.
Athletics is among the strongest sports with Hamilton & Alexandra College students, Trent Lenehan & Georgina Upton competing at National & State level respectively.
Buckley Swamp’s Jack Aitken recently returned from the National Age Cross Country Championships with 2 silver medals for his efforts and Balmoral’s Phillip Brown medalling at the Victorian Secondary School Championships.
SWAS Executive Officer Jeff Mutsaers said “not a bad effort for a shire with no Australian Track & Field Coaches Association (ATFCA) qualified coaches and we hope to change that with subsidy that has been offered to Hamilton based Rohan Garfoot to complete his level 1”
Golf is another sport well represented with Coleraine’s Toby Kilpatrick and Hamilton’s Zac Walker achieving Victorian Country squad selection to play South Australia last month.
Tahara’s Jarrod Sharrock took out the B Grade boy’s handicap event at the Victorian Sandgreens Championships in Elmore earlier in the year.
Jaymie McFarlane is the youngest golfer and one of two females in the squad and she is improving very well reducing her handicap by six strokes into the low thirties over the last six months.
Tennis youngsters, Wesley Isles from Hamilton and Dunkeld’s Matthew Lowe are in the Tennis development squad and are yet to compete with a SWAS squad, however they continue to show their strength at club and district competitions.
Balmoral swimmer, Breanna McPhee recently achieved 2 state qualifying times and three personal best performances at the MLC at Melbourne Aquatic Centre in November and Samantha McPhee continues to improve at regional level
Hamilton’s Megan Champness was just outside the regional times but demonstrated her commitment with four personal bests, one for every time she entered the pool.
SWAS Executive Officer said “We have to thank Southern Grampians Shire for providing funding for the last three years along with 4 other shires and the Victorian State Government. This funding is vital to our development and we hope to further improve our services as we slowly attract commercial backers to help us level the playing field for isolated regional athletes”
Southern Grampians Shire Council Mayor, Cr Marcus Rentsch added” We are extremely proud of the achievements of all of the athletes representing the Southern Grampians Shire in the South West Academy of Sports (SWAS), especially as there are no ATFCA qualified coaches in the Shire. It is hoped that with the subsidy offered to Rohan Garfoot to complete his level one in ATFCA coaching that we can continue to increase the number of athletes representing the Shire at the SWSA in the future.”
