The "Brindabella Heroes" Hall of Fame - Summer 2000/01

	Sri Barber (8 years girls), Melanie Quiggin (10 years girls), Lainee Sutton (11 years girls), and Jono Rousseau (12 years boys) are all crowned ACT Age Champions in a huge Meet for Brindabella swimmers.  No-one who was there will forget the inspirational Sonja Falez, who, despite a niggling shoulder injury, failed by only 0.3 of a second to make her first National time.
	Coach Terry takes his first Representative Squad - a team of fifteen to NSW Country.  As usual, the Brindabella contingent shines, with Lainee Sutton taking gold in the 11 years 200m IM (with a 7-second PB) and silver in the 11 years free, and Rachael Miles chiming in with a 2-second PB and a bronze in the 14 years 100m breast.
	Becky Mortlock, currently training the house down, takes bronze in the Open MD 50m breast at the NSW State Age 13-19 Years and Open Championships, held at SIAC on 16 to 23 January.  We can't wait to see her take on Siobhan!!
	Ben Grady (8th, 200m fly) and Krysten Mansell (7th in 200m back, 8th in 100m back, 10th in 100m fly) lead the charge for Brindabella at the NSW State Age 9-12 Years Championships, held at SIAC on 5 and 6 January.
	At the conclusion of ACT Summer we had 20 Country qualifiers, 9 representatives for Junior (9-12 years) State and 8 qualifiers for Senior State.  Good luck to all of these swimmers - the full Honour Roll: Summer Country David Bennett - 100m free Mark Bennett - all five age-group events Josh Berry - 100m breast Brian Christensen - 12 events Simon Eggins - 100m breast Sonja Falez - 10 events Ben Grady - 100m free, 100m back, 100m fly & 200m IM Courtney Keogh - 100m breast Krysten Mansell - 10 events (not bad for a 12-year-old!!) Rachael Miles - 16 events (only 7 to go for the full set!) Kristy Okkonen - 8 events Melanie Quiggin - 100 back, 100m breast, 200m IM Colby Rook - all five age-group events Jonathon Rousseau - 100m free, 100m back, 100m fly & 200m IM Max Sansoni - 7 events Melissa Stueckradt - 100m fly, 100m breast Lainee Sutton - all five age-group events Nyree Sutton - 100m free, 50m back & 100m back (age-group and open) David Williams - 14 events Natasha Wood - 100m fly Summer State David Bennett (junior) - 100m free, 100m back Mark Bennett (junior) - 8 events Brian Christensen (senior) - 50m free, 50m breast, 100m breast & 200m breast Simon Eggins (senior) - 100m breast Sonja Falez (senior) - 100m fly, 200m fly, 100m breast, 200m breast & 200m IM Ben Grady (junior) - 100m free, 100m fly Krysten Mansell (junior) - 10 events Rachael Miles (senior) - 6 events Kristy Okkonen (senior) - 50m breast, 100m breast & 200m breast Melanie Quiggin (junior) - 100m breast Colby Rook (junior) - 100m free, 100m fly Jonathon Rousseau (junior) - 100m free, 200m free, 400m free, 100m fly & 200m fly Max Sansoni (senior) - 50m free, 100m back, 200m back, 100m breast & 200m IM Lainee Sutton (junior) - 8 events Nyree Sutton (senior) - 50m free David Williams (senior) - 7 events Natasha Wood (junior) - 200m fly
	The Matt Dunn Pentathlon is held for the first time - a boon for medley swimmers.  More prizes than "The Price is Right", free entries, admission and programs - why can't we have more meets like this?  And, for the grown ups (well, the ladies anyway - Jenny S. was very quick to nominate herself for announcer duty), Matt Dunn himself was present. Fifteen Brindabella swimmers compete (niggling injuries keep many hot chances away from the pool) We know we're in for a top day when the day's very first spot prize goes to a Brindabella swimmer (Rachael wins a signed Olympic Book) Lainee Sutton (Girls 10 & Under) and Krysten Mansell (Girls 11-12 Years) make a clean sweep of the junior female events for Brindabella.  They are well supported by Natasha Cossetto (improving with every meet) - 8th in the 10 & Under, Bethany Miles (bursting back onto the scene) - 6th in the 11-12 and sister Rachael edging out her traditional rivals by inches in a nail-biter in the 13-14 event, finishing third. For the boys excellent performances by Colby Rook (4th in the 10 & Under), Josh Berry (7th in the 10 & Under) and Ben Grady (3rd in the 11-12).
	Away trip to Wagga for the ACT Squads Our esteemed president, Sylvia Mansell is one of the squad managers, and Jaan shares the coaching duties. Ben Grady and Krysten Mansell each win three gold medals - a tough ask when you get no sleep and your diet is heavily based on the "Pizza" food group. Melissa Stueckradt and Rachael Miles also represent Brindabella.  Rachael is just pipped into fourth place in the breaststroke "Dash for Cash", thus earning herself the wrath of the coaching staff and extra sessions next week!
	In the Telopea Spring Meet, Lainee Sutton (is she really still ten?) medals in the 14 years & under 800m free with a time about two hours faster than her previous best.  Melissa Stueckradt also smashes her PB in the same race.  Jonathon Rousseau would have gone under 19 minutes in the 1500m, but for an official's lap counting error.  Rachael Miles declares backstroke illegal, and will now only swim 150m medley events.
	Surprise Training Session with Shane Gould David and Jaan nonchalantly turn up for training with a new recruit - none other than 5-times Olympic medallist Shane Gould.  Wednesday afternoon training will never be the same again.  We suspect pool management still charged her entry fee, as well as lane under-utilisation charges. The Club's swimmers had a wonderful demonstration from Shane, who is still breaking world records at the masters level. Photograph and autograph session after training for the lucky ones!  Melissa and Rachael get their copies of Shane's autobiography "Tumble Turns" signed. See the press articles from the Valley View and the Chronicle (Note that neither credited the journalistic talents of the Brindabella parents who wrote the articles and took the photographs).
	Whose "Bright Idea" was it to go to Batemans Bay?  A team of eight (very) hardy souls braves the weather - essentially torrential rain except for around 15 minutes at lunchtime when it slowed to a downpour - on the recommendation of one club member (who shall remain nameless) that it is a "nice little meet".  My defence is that in previous years it has been!  However, all eight of our swimmers win medals, a total of 24 between them.  The team finishes seventh overall in the pointscore (with twice as many points per swimmer as the winning club!).  Chuck Berry wins "Club Member of the Millennium" award for deciding, at the last minute, to bring his waterproof tent.
	At the Ginninderra Development Meet we see all four Camerons in action - the Club's largest all-swimming family.  Between them they score 9 PBs and 9 ribbons - surely a force for the future!  Lainee gets amongst the action again - almost breaking the ACT record for the short course 200m freestyle.  Twenty SCBSC swimmers compete across the weekend, nineteen of whom score top three placings.  This Meet is the same day as Batemans Bay - it is suggested that the parents at the Bay are actually drier than those that went to Kaleen.
	Congratulations to Club Night Winter pointscore winners - Jessica Hynson wins the girls' award, with Stephanie and Natasha Cossetto finishing equal second.  For the boys Michael Thompson, Jordan Knights and James Thorp take the honours.
	At ACT Summer a huge Brindabella presence ensures many trips to the medal podium.  Kahlia Cossetto removes her lollipop for long enough to win the 50m breaststroke, then follows this up with a silver in the 50m back.  David Bennett chimes in with a gold in the 100m free.  Lainee Sutton this time 'only' wins six gold medals.  When an official protest is raised, a long and exhausting review process discovers that this was because she was only entered in six events.  Great to see big sister Nyree inching closer to her first Nationals time with an impressive long-course PB in the 50m free.  David Bennett, Melanie Quiggin and Natasha Wood qualify for state - Natasha must have broken some kind of record by making the 200m fly her first State qualifying time!
	In the October 'star chart' contest, Jasmine McMillan-Smith shows herself to be the Club's endurance champion, being the only swimmer in any of the squads to meet the punishing attendance schedule.  Hannah Miles misses by only one session, even going as far as "stowing away" on the Thredbo trip in the hope of collecting the elusive last star.
	At the Australian Short Course Championships in Melbourne, Brian Christensen and Kristy Okkonen again represent SCBSC at the very highest level of Australian Swimming.  Brian finishes 8th in the 50m breast and 5th in the 100m, whilst Kristy swims a PB in the 50m breast.  Brian's swims earn us another guernsey in the Canberra Times - he beats his own ACT Residents Records in both the 50m and 100m breast.
	Who can forget Thredbo???!!! Sylvia Mansell and team carry this off with all the aplomb for which they have become renown.  A brilliant weekend for all swimmers and parents, but not so hot for the other paying guests... Kim Chown does a wonderful job fund-raising, saving each swimmer something like $40 off their trip cost Sylvia sets the tone by exclaiming "There is a God" when the trip's first major hurdle is overcome - the coach arrives at the TLLC on time.  This apparently is something of a rarity on SCBSC trips. Surprise guest appearance by Michael Klum stuns all! The SCBSC "Mini-Olympics" out-rates the real thing. No chips for tea without a note from the coach (fat chance!). We almost manage to get a photo of Kahlia Cossetto not eating, but just miss it. Oh, and I think there was a bit of training thrown in. Notes to those parents who missed the fun and are thinking of going next year: Sleep before you leave home.  You won't get any there.  Assume you will be squeezed in between Sri, Lyndsay and Hannah on one side and Max, Mark and Simon on the other. Don't fall for the hotel's "You've got the last available room" line.  Haggle. Your room rate includes breakfast, but the restaurant skilfully hides both the food and the menu.  Don't be afraid to ask for both, even if they aren't sure what Hollandaise is, or whether the supermarket stocks it. Don't eat at the bistro.  Just don't. Don't take your six-year-old up the mountain on the chairlift unless you have a written affidavit from him/her that they will come down on it as well.  It's a precipitous 5km descent, the first 1500m of which is snow-bound. However tempting it sounds, don't visit "The Loft". Pack snow gear - you know, chains, ice picks, expensive parkas etc.  You won't need any of it, but you'll look the part. Don't forget to budget for the extortionate National Park entry fee.  It may actually be cheaper to leave your car at the gate and buy another one inside. And yes, you can get real coffee if you know where to look (which we do now but we didn't then - thanks a bunch everyone).