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THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019 SOUTH WESTERN TIMES . 33swtimes.com.au

Academy of Sport athlete’sefforts at the Decembercarnival resulted in himclaiming two gold, two silverand four bronze.

Highlights for 2018 includedwinning a gold medal forthe 5km under 16s eventat the Australian OpenWater Championships in Ade-

South West swimming talentKyle Lee’s 2018 campaign end-ed on a high note when hewalked away from the Suns-mart WA State Age SwimmingChampionships in Perth witheight medals.

The 16-year-old South West

laide, making the national400m individual medleyfinal, and winning silver atthe School Sport Australianational swimming champion-ships.

The Australind teenageralso has his sights set on theAustralian Open WaterChampionships in Adelaide. Kyle Lee

Swimmer wins a swag of medalsSWIMMING

Spectacular surfing action, teamcamaraderie and a podium finish –South West Academy of Sport ath-lete Seth Vanhaeften experiencedit all when he competed at the 2018ISA World Junior Surfing Cham-pionship.

The 16-year-old Margaret Riverresident was part of the 12-strongWoolworths Australian JuniorSurfing team, which edged outHawaii to claim the bronze medal.

Held at Huntington Beach in Cal-ifornia between October 27 andNovember 4, the event saw up andcoming surfers from 44 differentcountries take to the waves, withJapan and the US taking top hon-ours.

Seth, who was the only West Aus-tralian selected in the under-16male category at the event, said itwas a “crazy” culture shift to com-pete over in the US.

“Competing there is so much dif-ferent,” he said.

“There’s so much more teamcamaraderie and everyone reallybattles for their nation and it’s a lotmore passionate.

“It wasn’t just as much about in-dividual performances as it was foryour team and representing Aus-tralia.”

The Margaret River Senior HighSchool student said clinching theteam bronze medal was “insane.”

“Everyone was so supportive ofeach other, and we all knew whatneeded to happen for us to get agood position,” he said.

Seth enjoysSurfin’ USASURFING

Seth Vanhaeften

It is shaping up to be a big year forAustralind teenager Giselle Tay-lor, who will juggle budding netballand modelling careers with Year 12studies throughout 2019.

The 17-year-old, who capped off2018 in fine style when she wascrowned the South West Academyof Sport’s Team Female Athlete ofthe Year, has a big year ahead ofher.

The sharpshooter has beenselected to the Souwest Jets openteam for the second consecutiveyear, along with the Western Stingand WA under-19s.

Her latest achievements bringthe SWAS athlete another stepcloser to her goal of one day beingsigned by a Suncorp Super NetballClub – including the West Coast Fe-ver – and then ultimately the Aus-tralian Diamonds.

Giselle, who represented WA atthe 17 and under netball champion-ships last year, said she enjoyed thechallenge of playing netball andthe friendships she made along theway.

“I like the challenge of learningnew skills and the discipline of thegame,” she said.

Busy but bigyear aheadfor TaylorNETBALL

Giselle Taylor

Two stars of the hockey pitch haveproved they are champions of thegame − whether it is playedindoors or outdoors.

Ella du Preez and Jordan Smith-all, who both hold proud historiesof representing Western Australiaat national outdoor tournaments –recently made a triumphant debuton the national indoor hockeystage.

The exciting South West Acad-emy of Sport duo donned the blackand gold colours of WA when theycompeted at the Australian IndoorHockey Festival in Goulburn ear-lier this month.

The festival, which ran for anaction-packed four weeks betweenJanuary 4-26, saw teams fromaround Australia compete for

national titles across under-13,under-15, under-18, under-21 andopen divisions.

Ella enjoyed the distinction ofrepresenting WA back-to-back inthe under-15 and 18 champion-ships, and was part of the under-18team which won silver.

In addition, the 15-year-old Bus-selton talent was named player ofthe tournament for the under-15division.

“I was actually pretty surprisedto get it because there were a lot ofquality players all throughout theteams,” Ella said.

“I guess I was just fortunate – buta lot of other people could have gotit.

“It was definitely one of myfavourite tournaments to date. Itwas really fun and different. And Ireally got to know lots of people.

And I also really enjoyed the hock-ey as well.”

The midfielder, who scored threegoals in under-15s and two inunder-18s, said she improved hergame over the course of the tour-nament by developing a moreattacking style of play.

Jordan, a young gun from Eaton,also enjoyed a successful stint atVeolia Arena, with his under-15team bringing home bronze.

The defender said playing indoorhockey has improved his outdoorskills and he enjoyed playingalongside his peers on the nationalstage.

“I have played hockey in Perthpreviously with most of the team –so it was pretty good to go awaywith them and be able to bringhome the bronze medal,” Jordansaid.

South West Academy of Sport hockey talents Ella du Preez and Jordan Smithall, both 15, have returned from theAustralian Indoor Hockey Festival with medals after a successful outing in Goulburn, New South Wales.Picture: Teneille Watson

Future stars have theability inside and outHOCKEY