Messenger Community News names its top 20 young SA athletes to watch in 2019
Messenger Community News has chosen its top 20 emerging SA sports stars to watch in 2019. Some are young guns who have made headlines over the past year, while others have flown a little more under the radar. See who made the list.
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FROM basketball, netball, volleyball and tennis courts, to cricket and soccer pitches, softball and baseball diamonds to swimming pools, athletics, cycling and speedway tracks to golf courses and even rivers.
Messenger Community News’ annual list of top 20 emerging SA athletes to watch features youngsters from a host of sports – and they have all shone on the international, national or state stages over the past 12 months.
Last year’s crop included soccer player Pacifique Niyongabire, who went on to make his A-League debut with Adelaide United, eventual No.3 AFL draft pick Izak Rankine, cricketer Lloyd Pope, who became a sensation after starring at the Under-19 World Cup and later earned a Redbacks call-up, and US college-bound Australian junior women’s basketballer Darcy Rees.
In the 2017 list, there was Ebony Marinoff, now an AFLW star.
Here are the names to keep an eye out for in 2019:
AMBER MARSHALL (TENNIS)
She may be only 17 but Amber Marshall is already SA’s highest-ranked female tennis player.
Ranked 41 in Australia, Marshall plays for Pembroke in the local competition and is also making her mark internationally.
She has climbed to 63rd in the world to also be the No. 1 Australian junior female.
SAM RAHALEY (CRICKET)
Sam Rahaley is one of SA’s brightest cricket prospects heading into 2019.
Along with Rostrevor College teammate Kyle Brazell, Rahaley was one of two Croweaters to play for a Cricket Australia XI at last month’s national under-19 championships.
Rahaley made his A-grade debut for Kensington last summer and also featured for Australia’s under-16s against Pakistan in April last year.
EMILY WHITE (SWIMMING)
Norwood swimmer Emily White is making a splash in the pool.
The 15 year old represented Australia last year at the Oceania Swimming Championships in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on the back of success at the national age titles.
She is one to watch in distance races, having added the 1500m to her schedule after its addition to the women’s Olympic program.
COOPER ARMSTRONG (WAKEBOARDING)
Cooper Armstrong is riding high on the water.
The Prince Alfred College Year 5 student was crowned junior boys’ champion at the Nautique WWA Wakeboard World Championships in Japan in September.
That success is the culmination of years of hard work for Cooper, who spends hours each weekend wakeboarding near his parents’ Walker Flat shack on the Murray River.
GABI VIDMAR (BASKETBALL)
The Vidmar name is synonymous with soccer, while her mum is a former state netball star.
But Gabi Vidmar – the daughter of Aurelio and Sarah Vidmar – is a player on the rise in SA basketball.
Vidmar played 15 Premier League games, including a losing grand final, for Forestville in 2018 and helped Immanuel College finish runner-up at last month’s Australian School Basketball Championships.
HARRISON HUNT (ATHLETICS)
To say 2018 was a huge year for Harrison Hunt – who represented Australia at the world junior championships and won the Bay Sheffield – would be a massive understatement.
Hunt was the only SA male to feature at last year’s world titles in Finland, running with the 4x100m team.
The former BMX rider then capped his breakout year with success in last month’s men’s Bay Sheffield Gift.
Hunt, 19, came from the backmark, 12 months after finishing runner-up in the event.
CARLO ARMIENTO (SOCCER)
Adelaide United has given plenty of opportunities to talented youngsters since its inception and this year is no different following Carlo Armiento’s A-League debut.
Just weeks after signing a youth contract with the club, Armiento came off the bench for the Reds against fierce rival Melbourne Victory last month.
The Adelaide City and Blackfriars Priory School product was top scorer in United’s youth team last season with 12 goals in all competitions.
DARCIE BROWN (CRICKET)
The Northern Districts cricketer helped the Jets make international news in October, when she scored her maiden A-grade century in the team’s Australian record 50-over score of 3/596.
But the 15-year-old initially burst into the side as a pace bowler, taking the new ball for the Jets and getting clocked at more than 100km/h in 2017/18.
She will represent SA at this month’s national under-18 championships.
TEAGAN PEDLER (SPEEDWAY)
Teagan Pedler is fast becoming a star on two wheels.
Last year, she took SA motorcycle racing by storm when she became the state’s number two-ranked junior and highest-ranked girl Australia wide.
It has been an impressive rise through the ranks for the former ballet dancer, who ditched the tutus and pirouettes three years ago to concentrate on speedway.
SOPHIE ROBERTS (CRICKET/SOFTBALL)
Juggling two sports at a high level has not hindered Sophie Roberts’ progress in either of them.
The 17-year-old, of Windsor Gardens, is representing SA in national championships for softball and cricket this month.
She plays softball for Walkerville, cricket for Northern Districts and is a name to keep an eye on in both sports.
EDDIE VO (TENNIS)
Last year Eddie Vo created Australian tennis history by becoming the first player to win both the under-12 and under-14 grass court singles titles at the national championships.
The Croydon Park right-hander sits at 715 on the International Tennis Federation’s combined junior rankings.
And at age 15, he still has a few years left as a junior to improve on that.
CURTIS MEAD (BASEBALL)
He may only be 18 but Curtis Mead has become a starter in the Australian Baseball League for Adelaide Bite and has already signed with US Major League team Philadelphia.
Mead, the son of former Adelaide Giants baseballer Tim Mead, was named in the Australian schoolboys’ team last year and guided SA to a silver medal at the national schools titles.
The West Lakes Shore infielder attracted the Phillies’ attention while training in the MLB Australian Prospect Program after winning the Bite’s rookie of the year award.
JIN-YOUNG YUN (GOLF)
Grange golfer Jin-Young Yun is a star on the rise.
Last month, she played with the Australian amateur team at the Annika Invitational in New Zealand.
The 17-year-old is also a member of the state squad and last weekend won her first national rankings event – the girls’ SA Junior Amateur Championship.
She is soon heading to the US to play collegiate golf in Fresno, California.
WILL GOULD (FOOTBALL)
Woodville-West Torrens young gun Jack Lukosius was the first SA player picked in November’s national draft.
In 11 months, it may well be Glenelg’s Will Gould.
Gould was the only Croweater to be named in last year’s all-Australian under-18 side after SA won the national championships.
The defender moved to Adelaide from his hometown, Lucindale, in 2016 to board at Prince Alfred College.
NYAH ALLEN (NETBALL)
SA has a proud history of producing Australian netballers and, if the early stages of her career are anything to go by, Nyah Allen may one day add to that list.
Allen, a goal attack, last year featured in the national under-17 team and helped Garville make a surprise run to the Premier League premiership decider.
She was also named grand final MVP after SA upstaged Victoria to win the national under-17 championships in April.
NIKKI GORE (FOOTBALL)
There was not much more Nikki Gore could have chieved on-field in women’s football in 2018.
The 18-year-old Christies Beach product helped lead South Adelaide to the SANFLW premiership in the club’s inaugural women’s campaign, won the competition’s rising star award and was named in The Advertiser SANFLW Team of the Year.
The inside midfielder also featured with Central Allies at the under-18 national championships in July and was named in the all-Australian squad.
In October, the Crows selected Gore with their first pick (No. 8) at the AFLW draft.
CHARLOTTE GRANT (SOCCER)
Charlotte Grant already has an impressive soccer CV.
The Hallett Cove 17-year-old has played seven W-League matches for Adelaide United, won the women’s Premier League’s 2018 Shirley Brown Medal as its best and fairest, and joined the Young Matildas squad.
She is a speedy winger who has shown plenty of promise playing against much older opponents.
ELLA SIBLEY (CYCLING)
Ella Sibley enters 2019 in impressive form.
Just last month, she was part of the SA women’s track cycling team that claimed a fourth-straight national title in December.
It topped off a standout year for the Sacred Heart College student, who starred at the junior track nationals, snaring bronze in the individual pursuit and the 60-lap point race, as well as gold in the scratch race.
JOSH TURNER (ARCHERY)
Last year was a huge one for emerging Morphett Vale archer Josh Turner.
The youngster, who has a rare condition that leads to abnormal connections between his veins and arteries and causes chronic pain, capped off 2018 by being named the overall Messenger Community News School Sports Awards winner for the primary school category.
That win followed him holding eight state and three national archery records in his age group, competing against able-bodied rivals, and securing a place in the national youth team.
SEBASTIAN KEY (VOLLEYBALL)
Sebastian Key has only been playing volleyball since 2016 but he is making a rapid rise in the sport.
In August, the Brighton Secondary School student was part of the under-16 SA state team that won a silver medal at the national championships and was later named in the all-Australian squad.
The Woodcroft youngster has been an eye-catching player, not least because he has grown shoulder-length locks.
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