Sport
5 December, 2022
Jake and Cassidy enjoy great results
Maryborough’s best young athletes were recently pitted against Victoria’s best, coming out strongly in competition. Locals Jake Gavriliadis and Cassidy Miller were able to do Maryborough proud in both the Victorian All Schools State Championship...
Maryborough’s best young athletes were recently pitted against Victoria’s best, coming out strongly in competition.
Locals Jake Gavriliadis and Cassidy Miller were able to do Maryborough proud in both the Victorian All Schools State Championship and the 2022/23 State Combined Events Championships respectively, with Gavriliadis earning a national berth in the Victorian team thanks to winning a gold medal in the under 17s discus, as well as silver in the under 17s shotput, while Miller finished eighth overall in the state in the under 17 girls division.
Gavriliadis’ exploits will see him compete in Adelaide next week for the All-School National Champion-ships, and described how he was able to achieve his results at state level.
“The conditions weren’t fantastic, but I threw around 46 and a half metres in discus to claim gold. It helped that there was better weather in shotput, I threw 14.12 and that put me in second place, which I was happy with, and now I get to go to Adelaide for the All-School National Championships,” he said.
Gavriliadis shared his secrets to getting himself prepared for competition, which included help from his parents, who have supported him all the way.
“There is a lot of training. I train two or three times a week to throw, and also need two or three gym sessions. That’s all supported by my dad, who coaches me in Bendigo. My mother also supports me with preparations for my food, and the support from the school, family and friends plays a big part in my confidence,” he said.
“It’s all about time management and organisation skills for me. My parents are big parts of that as well, as they’ve been able to go through it themselves.”
As for his goals during the national championships, Gavriliadis has one simple objective.
“My goals would be to perform my best. Winning would be good, but my main goal is to throw as well as I can and to better myself at every competition I compete in,” he said.
Miller’s exploits in the State Combined Events Championships were more impressive when you consider that she was battling illness prior to the event.
“There hasn’t been too much preparation this time around, as I hadn’t been that well prior to the event, but for this event, I came along and did some warm-ups for the event with friends from other centres,” she said.
However, the overall mood for Miller was one of great satisfaction.
“It was great. I’m glad I made it as far as I did. Doing the events again was a bit funny thinking that it would be our last year in under 16s, and then we were able to compete in under 17s, so to be able to do it all again, meeting everyone again and doing as well as I could was fun, and I had a good time,” she said.
“I’ve been doing this for 12 years, and I’ve been able to get better all the time. It’s good to know that there’s a lot of young, talented athletes in Maryborough.”
Miller continues to compete in Maryborough Little Athletics, and was able to complete personal bests in shot put and the triple jump as recently as two weeks ago.
“I feel like if I didn’t enjoy it as much, I wouldn’t be doing as well, but because I do enjoy it, it helps me greatly,” she said.
