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Commonwealth Games – Day Eight

Wheelchair track and road star Angela Ballard won Australia’s only gold medal on day seven of the 2014 Commonwealth Games with a skilful and tenacious display in the women’s T54 1500m.

Competing in wet and slippery conditions, Ballard showed great composure throughout the race to time her final surge perfectly down the home straight to secure her first Commonwealth Games gold medal by 0.35sec.

Ballard clocked a time of 3:59.20 to finish ahead of Canada’s Diane Roy and England’s Jade Jones, who won the bronze medal.

“So awesome. It was really good. I made it through, and cleanly,” Ballard told Channel Ten. “I definitely knew I could probably outdo most of these girls to get a position to finish but I was a little worried because I was boxed in. It came good because the way was cleared for me.

“It was a very technical race because not many others had very good grip. It was challenging to keep the speed as it was.”

Ballard’s gold was complemented by countryman Kurt Fearnley, who won silver in the men’s T54 1500m.

Sydney University’s Ella Nelson made it to the semi-finals of the women’s 200m but missed a berth in the final.

The Bachelor of Science student finished third in her heat to progress to the semi-final. Jamaica’s Anneisha McLaughlin won the heat in 23.27sec, ahead of Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel in 23.54 and Nelson in 23.57.

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare won the semi-final in 22.43, ahead of England’s Jodie Williams in 22.64 and McLaughlin in 22.79. Nelson finished sixth in 23.50.

Okagbare went on to win the gold medal, with Jodie Williams collecting silver and England’s Bianca Williams collecting bronze.

Another Sydney University Athletics Club member, Ian Dewhurst, just failed to make it to the final of the men’s 400m hurdles.

Dewhurst finished third in his heat, in 50.45sec, behind South Africa’s Cornel Fredericks (49.26) and Jeffery Gibson, of the Bahamas (49.66).

Fredericks won the gold medal in 48.50, with Trinidad and Tobago’s Jehue Gordon taking silver in 48.75 and Gibson winning the bronze in 48.78.

Joshua Ralph, a Bachelor of Applied Science student, missed out on a berth in the final of the men’s 800m.

Ralph finished fifth in his heat of the event, which was won by Botswana’s Nigel Amos in 1:50.56. ahead of Kenya’s Evans Kipkorir in 1:50.88 and Bermuda’s Aaron Evans in 1:50.48. Ralph ran fifth in 1:52.48.

Amos went on to win the gold medal in 1:45.18, ahead of Kenya’s David Rudisha in 1:45.48 and South Africa’s Andre Olivier in 1:45.48.

Commonwealth Games – Day Seven

Sydney University’s Matthew Mitcham added to his Commonwealth Games silver medal collection when he finished second in the 1m springboard event in Glasgow yesterday.

The Bachelor of Arts and Science student amassed 404.85 points to finish second behind England’s Jack Laugher, who won gold with 449.90 points. Australia’s Grant Nel collected the bronze medal with 403.40 points.

Mitcham now has five Commonwealth Games silver medals, having finished second in the 1m springboard, 3m synchronised springboard, 10m platform and 10m synchronised four years ago in Delhi.

As has become his trademark, Mitcham pulled out his best dive when it was needed in the final after failing to break a score of 70 through his first five dives

On his last attempt, the 2008 Olympic gold medallist posted a 76.50 with a reverse one-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists to sit in the gold-medal position with only Laugher still to dive.

Laugher responded to the challenge by producing a forward two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists, scoring 76.80 to win the gold medal.

* Ella Nelson has qualified for the semi-final of the women’s 200m. Nelson running from Lane 8 ran a blistering first bend to set up a quality 200m qualifying automatically for the semi-finals which will be held at 3.07am (Australian time)  tomorrow.

* Ian Dewhurst contested the 400m hurdles and missed the final despite putting in a strong showing. Dewhurst gave a good account of himself running 3rd in his heat but was not quite quick enough to progress on times. The field in this event was of the highest quality, consider that the defending gold and silver medallist did not make the final as well as the 2011 World Champion.

* Jarrod Geddes ran the 200m and missed the semi-finals by only 5/100ths. Geddes ran a strong bend but could not get past his rivals in the straight. The good news for Geddes is he will contest the 4×100 in a couple of days time. NIck Hough has also been added to the 4x100m.

* Former EAP scholarship holder ( now with Kembla Joggers) Madeleine Heiner ran a huge personal best time in finishing 4th in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Heiner was not far away from a medal having mixed it with the the Kenyans for the majority of the race.

* Tomorrow mornings action sees Ella Nelson run the 200m semi-finals, Annie Rubie contest the 4×400 heats, and Angie Ballard in the T54 1500m.

Commonwealth Games – Day 6

Sydney University’s Nick Hough, a Bachelor of IT/Law student and EAP sports scholarship holder, finished fourth in the final of the 110m hurdles at the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Jamaica’s Andrew Riley won the event in 13.32sec, with England’s William Sharman (13.36) collecting the silver, and Shane Brathwaite of Barbados (13.49) winning the bronze. Hough ran a personal; best of 13.57 to finish fourth.

It was the fastest time ever by an Australian at the Commonwealth Games and moves Hough to third on the Australian all-time list for the 110m hurdles behind Kyle Vander-Kuyp and the Sydney University Athletics Club captain Justin Merlino.

Hough’s outstanding result adds to previous wins at the World Youth Championships and his second at the World Junior Championships.

* Swimmer Matt Abood finished fourth in the final of the men’s 50m freestyle, which was won by England’s Benjamin Proud in a time of 21.92sec. Australia’s Cameron McEvoy took the silver in 22.00sec, with team-mate James Magnussen securing the bronze in 22.10sec. Abood swam 22.09sec in his heat, and 22.07sec in his semi-final.

* Sydney University freestyle wrestler Jayden Lawrence fought his way through to the final four in the 74kg Division before losing the bronze medal match 5-0 to Nigerian Melvin Bibo.

When Lawrence reached the final eight he came up against the eventual gold medallist, Sushil Kumar of India. Kumar won 4-0, sending Lawrence into the repechage round, where defeated Sri Lanka’s Kushan Fernando 5-0 to earn a shot at the bronze medal. While a medal was not to be, it was a fantastic result for Lawrence in a very strong division.

* Sydney University’s Annelise Rubie missed a berth in the final of the women’s 400m when she finished fourth in her semi-final in 52.55sec. Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills won the semi-final in 50.73sec, ahead of Botswana’s Amantle Montsho (50.96) and England’s Margaret Edetutu Adeoye (52.48). Jamaica’s Stephanie McPherson ended up winning the gold medal in 50.67, with Novlene Williams-Mills taking silver in 50.86, and team-mate Christine Day winning bronze in 51.09.

* In other events, Angie Ballard progressed automatically to the final of the T54 1500m. Ballard had to call on all her experience to make it through a very slow and tactical heat. Ballard will race the final on Friday at 4.20am (AEST).

* Middle-distance runner Joshua Ralph, a Bachelor of Applied Science student, finished sixth in his heat of the 800m and missed out on a berth in the semi-finals.

Bermuda’s Aaron Evans won the heat in 1:50.48, with Botswana’s Nigel Amos (1:50.56) finishing second and Kenya’s Evans Kipkorir (1: 50.88) finishing third. Ralph was timed at 1: 52.48.

* Tonight sees Jarrod Geddes (200m) and Ian Dewhurst (400m hurdles) in action. Geddes will feature in Heat 8,with the first two place-getters automatically qualifying for the semi-final. Dewhurst goes from lane 5 in Heat 2 of the 400m hurdles. The first two plus the next two fastest will progress to the final in one of the toughest events at these Games. Dewhurst is ranked fifth on times in his heat and will need to run to his best to make the final.

* And Sydney University diver Matthew Mitcham will hit the water in the 1m men’s springboard.

All Sydney University athletes’ results tomorrow in Commonwealth Games – Day 7 review.

Commonwealth Games – Day 5

Annelise Rubie, 22,finished fourth in her semi-final in a time of 52.55sec, a fraction outside her personal best of 52.35sec. While it gave her the 11th fastest time, it was not enough to give her a place in the final. Morgan finished sixth in her semi-final in 53.37sec, and also missed a berth in the final.

Fresh from his gold medal performance in the men’s 4X100m freestyle relay on Day 3, Sydney University swimmer Matt Abood finished second in his heat of the 50m freestyle on Day 6.

Cameron McEvoy, who anchored the relay gold medal swim, won the 50m freestyle heat in 22.04sec ahead of Abood (22.09) and Trinidad and Tobago’s George Bovell (22.37).

Sydney University’s Nick Hough, a Bachelor of IT/Law student and EAP sports scholarship holder Nick Hough qualified for the final of the men’s 110m hurdles final when he finished third in his heat.

Hough, 20, ran a time of 13.70sec, just five hundredths of a second outside his personal best. The race for gold took on a whole new complexion when Jamaica’s Olympic bronze medallist Hansle Parchment did not make it to the start line.

Defending champion Andy Turner from England is also out of contention after clipping the first two hurdles and failing to finish his heat.

Sydney University’s Annelise Rubie will be competing in the semi-finals of the women’s 400m later today.

Commonwealth Games – Day 4

Annelise Rubie, a Bachelor of Liberal Arts student and EAP member, was one of the fastest qualifers in the women’s 400m when she finished fourth in the opening heat in 52.86sec at Hampden Park Stadium. Fellow Australian debutant and Australian champion Morgan Mitchell also moved through to the semi-final on Tuesday when she finished third in her heat in 54.28sec.

Commonwealth Games – Day 3

Ed Jenkins, a former Elite Athlete Program sports scholar, and Greg Jeloudev, a present EAP sports scholar, made their Commonwealth Games debuts with the Australian Sevens team in the two-day competition. Jenkins, the Australian Sevens captain, led them to wins over Sri Lanka (62-5) and Uganda (43-5).

Australia opened the second day with a 15-7 win over England to move into a quarter-final clash with Wales, which they won 21-19 with a try on the bell.

Their run came unstuck in the semi-final against New Zealand which they lost 17-7, relegating them to a play-off for third and fourth. Jeloudev scored two tries in Australia’s 24-nil defeat of Samoa to take the bronze medal, while South Africa ended New Zealand’s long winning run at the Commonwealth Games with a 17-12 result to take the gold.

Commonwealth Games – Day 2

Emily Esposito, a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology) competed in the women’s 10m air pistol qualification round. She finished 11th and failed to make it to the final. Countrywoman Lalita Yauhleuskaya finished second and qualified for the final.

Commonwealth Games – Day 1

Jaelle Cohen, a Bachelor of Education student, was Sydney University’s first athlete to compete at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Cohen is a member of Australia’s rhythmic gymnastics team which finished out of the medals in the two-day competition.

Having dominated the sport at the Delhi Games in 2010 where they collected three gold and two silver out of a possible six medals, the new-look Australian team struggled to put up competitive scores at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Canada won the gold medal with a score of 141.45, with Wales taking silver on 136.625 points and Malaysia the bronze with a score of 135.825.

Australia finished fifth with 126.75 points, with Danielle Prince scoring 53.725, Jaelle Cohen 48.675 and 16-year-old Amy Quinn 45.975. Prince and Cohen both did enough to qualify for the 16-person individual all-around final on Friday.

Commonwealth Games – Opening day

Welcome to Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness’s daily wrap of the efforts of Sydney University athletes at the 20th Commonwealth Games, being held in Glasgow.

Sydney University sporting clubs have provided 20 athletes for the Australian team contesting the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Sydney University Athletics Club (SUAC) has provided 12 athletes including Josh Ralph, Anneliese Rubie, Jarrod Geddes, Ella Nelson, Ian Dewhurst, Angela Ballard, Jin Su Jung, James Nipperess, Emily Brichacek, Nick Hough and Michelle Jenneke. Lara Tamsett was pre-selected but is injured. Also on the team are Matt Abood (swimming), Matthew Mitcham (diving), Kane Townsend (table tennis), Emily Esposito (pistol, Jaelle Cohen (rhythmic gymnastics), Jayden Lawrence (wrestling) and Ed Jenkins and Greg Jeloudev (rugby Sevens).

Australian Sevens captain Ed Jenkins had a golden moment before the 20th Commonwealth Games competition started, when he and Sally Pearson were invited to meet the Queen, as Australian team representatives after she had officially opened the Games.

Jenkins, a Sydney University Football Club member and former Elite Athlete Program member, also managed to take some ‘selfies’ with her royal highness in the background.

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