As a follow-up to our story yesterday on the Western Australian swimmers up for WAIS awards, young talent Tamsin Cook has been named ‘Western Australia Institute of Sport’s Junior Athlete of the Year’ last night at the organization’s annual dinner.
Cook was nominated for the award alongside West Coast Swim Club teammate Damian Fyfe. The pair was up against some stiff competition, including junior world record holder in pole vaulting, Nina Kennedy, cyclist Alex Rendell and sailing athlete Conor Nicholas.
But, Cook earned the award with a stellar list of credentials of her own, having brought home three medals from the World Junior Championships in Singapore late this summer. She scored gold in the women’s 800m freestyle relay, but also individually in the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly events.
WAIS’ Steve Lawrence said of this year’s junior athlete of the year nominees, “the list is arguably the most impressive in terms of breadth of performance that I have seen. The award has always reflected high performance, but with three junior world champions and two world records across the nomination period, I think we can confidently look forward to an exciting generation of WAIS talent ahead.”
Another West Coast Swim Club member was awarded recognition on the evening, as Cook’s coach Michael Palfrey was given the WAIS Coach of the Year honors. Brianna Throssell, 4th place finisher in the women’s 200m butterfly at the 2015 FINA World Championships was also up for the WAIS Senior Athlete of the Year, but Caitlin Bassett (netball) and Melissa Hoskins (cycling) took home the trophy.