FROM primary school achievement to senior international success, the central Victorian region boasted many active, successful women making their mark in many sports in 2009.We saw how much women’s sport mattered to the Bendigo community, with funds being raised to bring home international basketball star Kristi Harrower to the Bendigo Spirit.Today, we look back at the second half of 2009 and take a look at the women who made a name for themselves in sport. JULYJunior basketballer Tessa Lavey was selected to play in the FIBA Oceania under-17 championships.Bendigo mum Jaclyn Wilson-Thompson won the 30-34 UCI World BMX Championship title in Adelaide.Star goalshooter Caitlin Thwaites played in the Melbourne Vixens grand final triumph in the Trans-Tasman Netball League.The Vixens line-up included Australian Diamonds captain Sharelle McMahon, who is a dual winner and Hall of Fame member in The Advertiser Sports Star of the Year, which is proudly supported by WIN Television and RegionalOne Credit Union.Catholic College Bendigo’s Maddison Excell and Jessica Geary earned All-Australian selections following their performances at the Marist Netball Championships.Maiden Gully teenager Melisa Pearce played in the Australian under-19 badminton titles.12-year-old Bonnie Pridham was selected for the Victorian under-14 representative team in water polo. Maddison Wild rebounded from serious injury to score a place in the Victoria Country under-16 basketball team.Young volleyball stars Maddy Tucker, Paige Gordon, Georgina Jenkins, Lucy Turnbull and Claire Wilson-Weir played for Victoria at the national junior volleyball championships.Karley Hynes, Tahnee Woods, Rhiannon Judd, Sheridan Olsen, Erin Molenaar, Lauren Kirby and Laura Hamilton also played at the national volleyball championships in the under-19 division. AUGUST11-year old diver Billie Rodda was selected for the State Primary Schools diving team.Up-and-coming badminton star Lucy Young played in the under-15 state titles.Bendigo Senior Secondary College’s girls volleyball team made it to the State Schools Cup.Bendigo’s plight for a senior women’s football team was strengthened when a combined Bendigo Women’s Football Team played an exhibition match against the USA Freedom.Softballer Stacey Bulger played for the Australian Invitational team at the International Challenge Series in Sydney.Melbourne Vixens goalshooter Caitlin Thwaites was selected for the Australian Diamonds netball team.Carly Geary represented Victoria at the 15-and-under national netball titles.Julie Loomes smashed world records and won the Best Female Lifter at the Australian Drug-Free Powerlifting championships.Soccer star Kirsten O’Connor reached a milestone, notching up her 100th match for the Fernwood Vipers.Rebecca Holmes won bronze in the 12-13 years 200 metre freestyle at the Victoria Country shortcourse championships.Bendigo Lady Braves guard Kelly Wilson was named the 2009 Most Valuable Player in the South East Australia Basketball League. SEPTEMBERTriathlete Jackie Treymayne qualified for the Ironwoman World Championships in Hawaii.Bendigo riders Jo Wall and Shelly Flood contested the Australian mountain bike marathon championships. Jo also competed in the elite women’s cross-country race in Canberra. OCTOBERKristi Harrower was announced as the Bendigo Spirit basketball club’s new general manager.Bendigo ice skating star Kassidy Rae-Browell was selected to take part in the Oceania junior development camp in Brisbane.Kendyl Hopley was appointed as Netball Victoria’s regional development officer in Bendigo.Sculling champion Hannah Every-Hall won gold in the women’s A single sculls and in both the A and B squad sculls events at the World Masters Games in Sydney.Dimity Winning was awarded the Bendigo Youth Girls’ league’s best and fairest player for 2009 at an AFL Victoria presentation.Kayaking star Tegan Fraser won the open-age and under-23 singles events at the Australian marathon championships.Year 8 student Jenna Robertson represented Victoria at the national secondary touch football championships in Adelaide.18-year-old Laura Kairn won the girls division at the tenpin bowling Junior Sydney Cup Tournament.Figure skaters Alice Stephenson and Erin Taylor performed at the National Federation Challenge. NOVEMBERJessica Rothwell won the national 20km walk title, held in Melbourne.Sarah Mannes was picked as the first female captain of a C grade team at Axe Creek Cricket Club.Softballer Stacey Bulger represented Victoria in the 2009-10 National Gilley’s Shield Championships.Baringhup cricketer Jessica Kile was named in the Victorian women’s second XI for the second consecutive year.Haylee Wellard and Jaclyn McAliece competed in the World Trampoline titles in Russia. Shayann Stuart travelled to Samoa to compete in the Oceania Judo Championships. DECEMBERJanelle Hocking won her place in the World Taekwondo Junior Championships, held in March 2010 in Tijuana, Mexico.Catholic College Bendigo’s Year 9-10 Basketball team competed in the top division of the National Schools Championship. Basketballer Tessa Lavey received a 2010 Australian Institute of Sport Scholarship to pursue her basketball career at the Canberra academy.Denise Snyder, Brigette Dillon, Sophie Taylor, Madeleine Lawson, Carlie Whitford, Alice Schenker, Ebony Whiley, Grace Campbell and Jessie Wilson competed in the Australian All Schools Track and Field Titles in Hobart.Jaclyn Wilson-Thompson was victorious in the 30-34 years women’s final at the Victorian BMX championships.