OUTSTANDING young Kyabram athlete James Wood has returned from the Oceania Games in Townsville with a gold and silver medal.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Competing for the regional Australian team in the games at Under 18 level the 16-year-old landed gold in the 4x100m boys’ relay and the silver in his pet discipline, the pole vault.
He ran the first leg of the relay.
In the pole vault James cleared a personal best 4.50 metres, which eclipsed his previous best leap of 4.45 metres, but had to be content with second place.
James equalled his PB in the high jump with a leap of 1.88 metres, which placed him fourth.
James also contested the 100m and was placed 14th in a field of 24 run in three heats.
The St Augustine’s student has now been set the challenge by his Bendigo Athletic Club coach Peter Barrett to qualify to compete in the pole vault at the Word Junior Athletics Championships in Kenya in July next year.
To do this he has to achieve a qualifying height of 5.10 metres.
Lyon builds on Deni link
FORMER Melbourne Football Club and Victorian skipper Garry Lyon visited Deniliquin last week as part of the Toyota Good For Footy program.
The former Kyabram thirds premiership player and now media personality proved popular at a function run by the town’s Picola Football League club, Deniliquin Rovers.
The name Lyon is familiar to Deniliquin footy fans with a long memory.
Garry’s father, Peter, a Kyabram premiership coach, played a season in 1961 with Deniliquin as a 19-year- old when it was a one football club town.
‘‘I was cleared to play there by Eaglehawk on the agreement I returned to Eaglehawk the next year.
‘‘Deni was runners-up in the Murray League that year and I shared the league medal with legendary Cobram coach Les Mogg, a former North Melbourne player,’’ Peter recalled of his time in the southern Riverina town.
After returning to play with Eaglehawk in 1962 Peter was recruited by Hawthorn in 1963 where he went on to play 21 senior games.
‘‘I was 21 went I went to Hawthorn and they reckon by then I was a middle age recruit so times have changed a bit,’’ added Peter.
Young Elliott bowling ’em over
A SON of former Kyabram and Australian cricketer Matthew Elliott has received a rookie contract with Cricket Victoria for the 2019-20 season.
But unlike his father who was an opening batsman, Sam Elliott, 18, is a pace bowler who took 27 wickets for Premier League club Fitzroy-Doncaster last season.
Matthew Elliott is one of two Kyabram-raised cricketers — Jim Higgs is the other — to represent Australia at Test level.
He had an average of over 52 in 103 Sheffield Shield matches for Victoria before finishing his career in South Australia.
He made three Test centuries for Australia including a knock of 199 at Headingly in Australia’s 1997 Ashes tour of England.
Gun forward has Ky connection
THERE is a Kyabram connection to the selection of Echuca’s Brodie Kemp in the All-Australian side after the national under-18 championships last week.
Kemp, who represented Victoria Country in the championships and was named at full forward in the All-Australian side, is the son of former Kyabram St Augustine’s schoolteacher Grant Kemp, who played senior football for Kyabram and was also a fine cricketer with the Fire Brigade Cricket Club in the 1990s.
Trotting double for Jim
KYVALLEY harness racing breeder Jim Connelly had a big night in the Vicbred Super Series trotters finals at Melton last Friday.
He won the Three-Year-Old Colts and Geldings final with Kyvalley Clichy and the Four- Year-Old Entires and Geldings final with Kyvalley Finn.
Kyvalley Clichy is trained by Brett Lilley while Bendigo horseman Chris Svanosio prepares Kyvalley Finn.
■Kyabram-trained pacer Glen Eyre repeated the win of the previous week with a tough win in a 1690m CI Only class at the last Shepparton trots meeting.
Jayden Barker again partnered the Gary Payne-trained son of Ohaka Arizona, who had to work early before racing in the death seat outside the pacemaker Hayjoshandco for the remainder of the race.
After the horse won its first two starts in Hobart, Payne has now produced Glen Eyre for four wins and six minor placings from 23 starts he has given the six-year-old on Victorian tracks.
Rigoni leaves it late
WHEN it comes to winning the close games, Seymour Football Club seems to have it down pat. Well, one if its players, Ben Rigoni, does.
In the round 10 game against Tatura, Rigoni deprived the Bulldogs of a win by kicking a goal after the siren.
Against Mansfield at Mansfield last Saturday week Rigoni was in the right place at the right time again, slotting a goal in the last minute to provide Seymour with its third one-point win for the season.
Super Subba passes milestone
AVENEL Football Club veteran Paul (Subba) Arandt clocked a milestone Kyabram District Football League game in the Swans’ round 11 win against Stanhope two weeks ago.
Avenel president Bruce Rowley says Arandt “is the Avenel Football Club’’, and he played his 250th game for the Swans that day.