Sydney University Athletics Club’s (SUAC) stars aligned on Saturday night at the Melbourne Track Classic held at Albert Park in Melbourne, with four standout performers stealing the show by posting personal bests, World University Games qualifiers and or club records.
SUSF Elite Athlete Program (EAP) scholarship holders Anneliese Rubie, James Nipperess, Nick Hough and team mate Ian Dewhurst all performed extremely strongly on the night to further push forward their rising reputations on the international stage.
Anneliese Rubie (Bachelor of Liberal Arts & Science) won the 400m in a personal best time of 52.61, beating home longtime rival Caitlin Seargent from the University of Queensland. Rubie has posted many World University Games qualifiers but is now also just outside the World Championships 400m standard of 52.35. Rubie will contest both the 200m and 400m at this weekend’s National Championships where she is a realistic chance to win both events.
Nick Hough (Bachelor of Info Technology / Bachelor of Laws) ran a mighty race in 200m, pushing the former World Championship silver medalist Wallace Spearmon from the USA, to eventually finish second. Pleasingly for Hough, he beat all the top Australian 200m athletes home, thereby putting himself well and truly into the frame for a 200m title at this weekend’s National Championships. In the 100m Hough ran a personal best time of 10.39 to further lower the SUAC club record which he broke earlier in the season at the Sydney Track Classic.
In the men’s steeplechase James Nipperess (Bachelor of Health Science {Physiotherapy}) ran a personal best of 8.36 – a World University Games qualifier and club record – to finish second to Australian record holder and Olympian Yousef Abdi. Nipperess is working his way to a World Championships qualifier. The ‘b’ standard is 8.32.
Ian Dewhurst recorded another personal best in the 400m hurdles to finish third in 50.05, running another World University Games qualifier, breaking his own SUAC club record and running the fastest time by a NSW athlete in many seasons. He is now just outside the World Championships entry standard of 49.60.
Alix Kennedy (Bachelor of Commerce/Law), who has had a remarkable comeback from a serious ankle injury, threw a season’s best in the discus on Saturday night. Kennedy is just two metres short of qualifying for the World University Games.
Other notable SUAC performance came from Jenny Blundell (Bachelor of Exercise Physiology) on debut, finishing fifth in the 1500m and running just outside of her personal best. Jack Colreavy was also fifth in the men’s steeplechase.
At the Australian Masters Championships SUAC were also well represented. Brett Halls won the (35-39) 800m and 1500m double, breaking the 20 year old championship record in the 800m. Larissa Stanley won the 800m (35-39) and finished second in the 1500m, with Andrew Heil recording a fourth place finish in the men’s 800m (35-39).
This weekend SUAC athletes will compete at the National Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush.
