It’s a gold rush

By Paul Pickering and Justin Robertson
TWO Berwick residents have joined the Aussie gold rush at the Commonwealth Games.
Nineteen-year-old gymnast Ashleigh Brennan and 20-year-old shooter Laetisha Scanlan both won gold medals in Delhi last week, while Pakenham shooter Anthony Sottosanti was preparing to take his shot at Games glory last night.
Brennan, who is the shortest athlete on the Australian squad for Delhi, was part of the gymnastics team that successfully defended the Commonwealth title with victory in the women’s team final over rivals England.
The 157cm dynamo then claimed individual bronze in her pet event, the floor exercise, behind team-mate and gold medallist Lauren Mitchell.
It’s an achievement Brennan mirrored in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, where she won silver on the floor and helped Australia to a team gold medal as a 15-year-old.
After a year away from the sport to complete her VCE, the Berwick gymnast landed awkwardly on her ankle at the Australian Championships earlier this year, but soon recovered to now be an integral part of the Australian Commonwealth Games squad.
Scanlan’s golden moment came on Friday night in the women’s trap pairs event, where she combined with 33-year-old Stacy Roiall to break the Games record on their way to the top of the victory dais.
The Frankston Australian Clay Target Club member, who is coached by her father Bernie, twice gunned down 24 of a possible 25 clay targets in the two-round event to set the foundation for an Aussie triumph.
Her aggregate score of 48 was two shots better than her nearest rival and, alongside a solid return of 45 from Roiall, propelled the pair to a combined total of 93 which eclipsed the previous record by three shots.
Scanlan was unable to recapture that form in the individual trap event the following night, when her three-round total of 66 put her in 11th place and outside the top-six shootout.
An individual medal was the goal going into the event, but that will have to wait.
The determined competitor, who already has a swag of international medals from the Youth Olympics and recent World Shooting Championships, has the 2012 London Olympics well and truly in her sights.
Pakenham’s Sottosanti, also 20, is another who will be hoping the Delhi experience can catapult him towards an Olympic debut.
He combined with 39-year-old New South Welshman Clive Barton to finish sixth in the men’s skeet pairs event on Monday night and was set to shoot in the individual competition as the Gazette went to print last night (Tuesday).