The Traralgon Swimming Club finished the 2009/10 local season by notching up its 11^th win at the Gippsland Championships held in Sale.
Traralgon’s largest team ever of 106 swimmers won 79 gold, 42 silver and 40 bronze medals and broke 15 Gippsland records.

Final scores placed Traralgon on top with 1,737 points, ahead of Warragul (981), East Gippsland Water Dragons (490), Sale (404), Morwell (318) and South Gippsland Bass (197). The club won the Ken Hewat Trophy as over all champions, as well as the Ashley Delaney 14/Under Team Trophy.

The Outstanding Male trophy (Charles Ford Memorial Trophy) went to Traralgon’s Ben Geard. The 28 year old last won the trophy in 1999. Ben’s medal haul of 8 gold and 3 bronze from 15 finals was an outstanding result from the 3 day competition.

The Outstanding Female Trophy (Jewell Family Trophy) was shared by 13 year old Georgia Tsebelis and 17 year old Stephanie Morgan. Stephanie took home 8 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals, whilst Georgia won 9 gold and 3 silver. The two, both Gippstar winners in the past 12 months, competed against each other often during the meet with several close and exciting finishes.

Georgia also won the Most Outstanding 14 & under Female swimmer trophy (Alan Harlow Trophy) for her efforts. In a family affair, 9 year old Alex Tsebelis won the 14 & Under Male swimmer trophy (Alan Harlow Trophy) – being the youngest swimmer ever to win this award. Alex won 4 Gold and 1 Bronze medals in a remarkable exhibition in the 9/10 age group.

Stephanie Spehar (14) won the Female Encouragement Award (Ann Bree Memorial Trophy) for her consistent high level of performance over the weekend.

Other outstanding performances for the weekend included: Brayden Waltham (17) 5 Gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze; Alice Lieshout (16) 4 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze; Emily Beecroft (10) 3 gold in SWD events, William Clare (7) 3 gold; Jasmine Doultree (10) 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze; Bridget Cain (8) 2 gold, 2 silver; Chance Doultree (8) 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze; Caiden Gill (11) 1 gold, 1 bronze; Kirsten Lieshout (18) 1 gold, 3 bronze; Elliot Shaw(16) 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze; Jordan Radosavljevic (16) 1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze; Jessica Norwood (12) 1 gold, 1 bronze; Jason Reid (Snr) 1 gold; Daniel Gill (13) 1 gold; Thomas Fleming (10) 1 gold; Erin Roberts (11) 5 silver.

Other medal winners were Sarah Berryman (17), Jye DaRos (8), Taylah Da Ros (12), Ashley DiCiero (14), Fiona Doultree (Snr), Daniel Golcic (14), Carolyn Grasby(Snr), Alan Jenkinson (Snr), Cameron Juha (16), Jacob Lampitt (12), Andrew Legge (Snr), Nicole Moon (14), Sam May (12), Matt Norwood (15), Andrew O’Connor (22), Maggie O’Keefe (13), Connor O’Neill (10), Mitchell O’Neill (10), Fabienne Schoutens (11), Zoe Trembath (14), Ashley Withell (12), Ryan Withell (8) and Mitchell Young (14).

Traralgon Relays were dominant winning 22 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Jeremy Meyer won the Inaugural “Jeremy Saunders Trophy” as the Most Outstanding Senior Swimmer outside Gippsland. Meyer, who now trains with the AIS in Canberra, has had an outstanding season placing well in several elite competitions. The trophy was named for former Traralgon great Jeremy Saunders who now trains with Nunawading Club in Melbourne.

Georgia Tsebelis won the inaugural “Noelle Brajkovic Trophy” as the Most Outstanding Junior Swimmer outside Gippsland. Georgia’s most dazzling out-of-Gippsland performance was at the State Championships in December where she won 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze medals and broke 2 Victorian Country and 4 Gippsland Records.

The Club also picked up Shields indicating a great team performance for the season: The Andy Barnes Shield for Interclub Points, the Faye Staughton Trophy for Open Points and the Gippsland Relay Shield. The Club is very proud of its achievements during the regular season – largely accomplished by its junior swimmers who faithfully attended the local swimming competitions.

Following the Gippsland Championships, 37 Traralgon swimmers 14 years and under travelled to Melbourne to compete in the All Junior titles. All four strokes are contested over 50 meters in each age group. 25 of these swimmers were finalists in a total of 47 races. Traralgon Swimmers brought home 12 Gold, 10 Silver and 8 Bronze medals.

Outstanding performances from Alex Tsebelis(9) who won gold in the fly, back and free and bronze in the breast events. Jasmine Doultree (10) won gold in the breast and silver in the fly. Trent Morrow (13) won gold in Free breaking the 13 years All Junior record in a time of 26.59 and getting silver in the Fly. Mitchell Young (14) won silver in the Breast, Free, Back and Fly. Stephanie Spehar (14) also won gold in Free and silver in Fly, Maggie O’Keefe won gold in Fly and bronze in Back, Gemma Radosavljevic won gold in Back and bronze in Free and Brayden Haney (13), Caiden Gill (11) and Jessica Norwood (12) each won a gold medal. Thomas Fleming (10), Bridget Cain(8), Sam May (12), William Clare (8), Taylah Da Ros (12), Nicole Moon (14), Connor O’Neill (10) and Daniel Golcic (14) were additional medalists for the club.

Traralgon Swimming Club Head Coach, Brian Ford, spoke highly of his successful team – “The last 2 competitions have highlighted the strength and depth of the Club where the focus is on “team” first which encourages and fosters individual performance. Winning an 11^th Gippsland championship and then backing up at the higher Country level All Junior meet for some swimmers is the result of terrific teamwork from the coaches and swimmers and, of course, the great support from parents. It has been a fantastic couple of weeks for the Club. Now we head to Sydney for National Age Championships with our biggest team ever.”

Traralgon will send 12 individual and 4 relay swimmers to the Australian Age Championships which begin in Sydney on April 5^th for 6 days. Gippsland Academy of Sport members and veterans of National Championships swimming Jeremy Meyer, Kirsten Lieshout, Alice Lieshout, Stephanie Morgan and Brayden Waltham will be joined by 7 new Traralgon swimmers who have qualified to compete in this most prestigious event in the individual events: Georgia Tsebelis, Maggie O’Keefe, Brayden Haney, Matt Norwood, Daniel Gill, Jordan Radosavljevic and Trent Morrow. These swimmers will be joined by relay swimmers Zoe Trembath, Stephanie Spehar, Nicole Moon and Dylan Wyatt.

“The team will travel and lodge together in Sydney during the competition, again promoting the team ethic of the Club. We look forward to a great week of competition and results” Ford commented.

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