Sydney Uni athletes have continued their excellent form on the second day of competition in what were extremely hot and difficult conditions for many of the competitors.
With the temperature pushing 30 degrees the women’s Rugby 7s team scored two straight victories before being defeated by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in a very tough game 15-7. Less than an hour later they backed up to play off for third against Sunshine Coast University, with the girls finishing fourth in the competition after a hard two days.
The men’s team had a resounding victory over our neighbours University of NSW (UNSW) 31-12 but Australian Catholic University proved too good later in the day, defeating our team 10-17 but the boys came back strongly to finish the day with a 43-10 win over Griffith University. Team manager Jack Farrer is tipping a win tomorrow before the finals kick off on Thursday.
All of our touch football teams are looking good for finals: the men’s team scored on the bell against James Cook University (JCU) to win 6-5 maintaining their undefeated status; along with the mixed team; whilst the women’s team lost a tight game to UNSW 6-4 but had a resounding 13-0 victory over the University of Western Sydney.
Not to be outdone by rugby, football also firmed up their position for finals later in the week. The men’s team defeated Griffith University 15-0 and University of Technology Sydney (UTS) 3-0. The women began the day with a 0-0 draw against UTS but followed up with a strong 4-0 defeat of the University of Western Australia.
Cricket kept up yesterday’s successful start by winning their T20 Cricket game against Griffith whilst cycling also continued to build up their point score finishing top of the table on the second day with silver medals in both the men’s (Tamas Allenby and Alex Wong) and women’s (Gina Ricardo and Emily Kempson) pairs.
The water was a great place to be and that was indeed the case for our small but strong team of swimmers. After arriving yesterday, coach Scott Talbot and his team got off to silver start on the first day of their competition.
Nicholas Rispoli produced a strong last lap to place 2nd to Olympian Matson Lawson in the 200m freestyle whilst in the men’s 100m butterfly Nathaniel Romeo took home another silver medal.
The final event of the day was the men’s 4x100m medley relay with the small team fighting to overcome the bigger teams of UNSW and Monash. After great legs from Keelan Bridge (backstroke), Brendan Micaleff (breaststroke), and Nathaniel Romeo (butterfly) – Nick Rispoli dived in and sprinted strongly through the field to be narrowly touched out for first, bringing in another silver medal and recording the third fastest time in AUG history.
Our lone female swimming competitor at the games – Michelle Troup – had a gutsy race against Olympic gold medallist Melanie Schlanger but after sitting hot on her heels most of the way, Michelle just faded to fourth in the final stages.
Nearby at the beach volleyball, the team was on a winning streak with straight set victories over both UTS and Deakin University.
Women’s netball defeated Macquarie University 20-19 in a very tense game followed by another close game which saw them defeated 25-27 by the University of Wollongong.
Sydney University Athletics Club (SUAC) once again turned in a number of outstanding performances across a variety of events. Milly Clark won the women’s steeplechase for the second time at AUG, moving to the front early, Clark was dominant and smashed the AUG record running a time of 10.26. Clark will contest the 1500m final tomorrow where an incredible six other SUAC females have also made the final.
In other finals today, runner Michelle Jenneke showed her versatility finishing fourth in the triple jump. Jacqui Fry was fifth in the discus.
Semi-final action saw Jin Su Jung produce the most impressive run in the 100m. Battling illness, Jung switched off nearly 45m out from the finish but still produced the fastest time. In the men’s 800m semi’s Josh Ralph, Jack Hiscox and Miles Waring all advanced to the final, with Ralph looking the man to take home the gold medal on Thursday afternoon. The women’s 800m semi-finals were also a happy hunting ground for the SUAC women with Jenny Blundell, Emily Ryan and Rosie Weber all cruising through to the final.
Day 3 will see a large number of finals decided with SUAC well placed in the men’s and women’s overall point score.
