Olympian and SV Life Member, Matt Welsh OAM, hosted a wonderful celebration of swimming at the 2018 Swimming Victoria and asctaVIC Awards on Sunday 3 June 2018 where swimmers, coaches, Technical Officials and volunteers were recognised for their outstanding contributions to the sport in 2017/18. And in a season that saw a World Championship and Commonwealth Games, it gave us plenty to celebrate!
After medal-winning performances at the 2017 FINA World Championships and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, it was no surprise that Melbourne Vicentre’s Mack Horton took home the Nicole Livingstone Trophy as the Victorian Swimmer of the Year. The two greats of the sport came together as Nicole presented Mack with the newly named trophy, providing one of many special moments for the afternoon. Mack also received the John Marshall Trophy for Freestyle for the 6th year in a row.
Of course, Mack couldn’t have done it without the support of his coach, Craig Jackson and that’s why Craig was such a worthy recipient of the Jack Foster Trophy for the Victorian Coach of the Year.
In addition to Craig, we saw a number of Victoria’s finest coaches recognised for their achievements throughout the season, including Nunawading’s Scott Talbot who won the Victorian Open Coach of the Year and the Victorian Coach of the Year – Multi Class, for coaching Madeleine Scott to a Gold medal at the Canadian Open.
Commonwealth Games golden boy, Tim Disken was the recipient of the Ellie Cole Trophy for Victorian Multi Class Swimmer of the Year. Ellie, now based in Queensland, flew down for the occasion and presented the award to proud parents, Jenny and Barry Disken, on behalf of Tim, who is now training and living in Canberra.
Nunawading Swimming Club was a big winner, finishing first in the Top Ten Club Award and taking home the VASA Relay Trophy, the Male and Female Victorian Premiership Awards and the Fred Blunt Trophy for the club scoring the highest aggregate points in the Victorian Long Course Championships.
South Gippsland Bass Swimming Club was awarded Club of the Year for its dedication to providing an inclusive club culture and focussing on the development of the club and its members.
Open Water Swimming continued to grow in 2017/18, with another strong Great Victorian Swim Series, including the Victorian Open Water Championships. The Melissa Cunningham Trophies were awarded to Melbourne Vicentre’s Lachlan Schwarz (Age) and Laverton’s David Allen (Open) for their respective performances at the Australian Open Water Championships. David’s coach, Sandro Vasta, was also awarded the Victorian Open Water Coach of the Year Award.
Our dedicated Technical Officials were recognised for their outstanding commitment to swimming. The Bill Slade Trophy for Technical Official of the Year was awarded to Ken Houghton. This award is selected by the Swimming Victoria Technical and Officials Development Committee and is presented to the official that epitomises everything that an official should be.
Sam Ireland was awarded Best New Official of the Year for his work in the Hume Upper Goulburn District and a number of our long-standing officials were awarded service pins, including an impressive 30 years’ service from Muriel Aberline and Robin Alexander.
The much-anticipated President’s Trophy for the most outstanding individual for the season was awarded to Kotuku Ngawati (Melbourne Vicentre). It was a roller coaster of a year for Koti, who won a Bronze medal in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay at the 2017 FINA World Championships. Health issues then kept her out of the pool for the rest of the season, but it didn’t stop her from being an engaged member of the swimming community, regularly giving up her time for appearances, medal presentations and to inspire young swimmers across the state.
Congratulations to all our award winners.
