Sydney University Athletics Club dominated the recent UniSport National Athletics Championships held at the Gold Coast Performance Centre, topping both the men’s and women’s point scores to secure their first two Division 1 pennants of 2022.
In winning the overall men’s point score, SUAC was awarded the Tony Booth Trophy. SUAC’s males amassed 149 points, with Queensland University of Technology (129 3) and the University of Technology Sydney (113) finishing second and third. SUAC females amassed 142 points to edge out Griffith University (107) and Macquarie University (84).
And in dominating the men’s and women’s point scores, SUAC athletes won six gold medals, seven silver and three bronze. Providing some of the impetus for the pennants were SUAC sprinters Chris Ius and Kailyn Joseph, who won the 100m crowns in their respective events.
Ius was the fastest qualifier into the final of the Men’s Open 100m and held that form to take out the gold medal event in 10.55s, ahead of the University of Wollongong’s Lachlan Kennedy in 10.61 and Griffith University’s Harrison Callow in 10.83.
Joseph claimed gold in the women’s para 100m and also bagged a silver in the women’s para long jump. Para athletes competed at the same time as non-disabled athletes at the competition. Para athletes are scored on a percentage basis compared against the world record in their respective categories and awarded medals based on that percentage. Joseph finished the 100m (T37 category) in 16.25, earning an 80.33 percentage result, and jumped 3.68m in the long jump to earn a 70.49 percentage result.
SUAC’s ‘A’ teams also collected gold in the women’s and men’s 4X100m relays. Mia Economou, Elysha Cramer, Charlotte McGill and Emma Klasen clocked 48.61s to head off University of Technology Sydney (49.11) and Griffith University for the silver and bronze medals in the women’s relay.
And Thomas Tucker, Connor Murphy, Iram Palma and Christopher Ius ran 42.26s to win the men’s event ahead of the University Queensland (42.67) and the University of Technology Sydney (43.27).
Gold also went Matthew Crowe’s way in the final of the men’s 400m hurdles. Crowe won (52.91), ahead of the University of Melbourne’s Blake Dobay (53.29) and the University of Western Sydney’s Thomas Hunt (53.34).
Twins Luke and Jayden Schofield claimed gold and silver in the men’s 5000m, with Luke breaking the tape in 14:43.20 from Jayden (14:44.22) and Australian Catholic University’s Hamish claiming bronze in 14:46.59. Jayden also came second in the men’s Open 10,000m with a time of 30:56.18. Aidan Hobbs from Queensland University won the event in 30:41.41, with Tome Bowers from Monash University running third in 30:10.69.
Ashley Spencer collected silver in the final of the women’s 400m hurdles, running a time of 1:1.74. UNSW’s Genevieve Cowie won the event in 1:00.85, with teammate Susie Douglas taking bronze in 1:01.92.
SUAC’s Angus Clark posted a personal best 7.30m to come second in the men’s Open long jump final. RMIT University’s Amiru Chandrasena took gold with a jump of 7.55m, while Liam Fairweather collected bronze with a 7.14m jump.
SUAC’s Laura Roderick claimed silver in the women’s 5000m in a time of 17:19.72. Curtin University’s Olga Firsova won the event in 16:43.53, with SUAC’s Emma Mahon taking bronze in 18:23.89.
And Damien Mizzi, Oscar Pursey, Jack Lynch and Hayden Fleming claimed silver in the men’s 4X400m relay in 3:20.84. The University of Technology Sydney took gold in 3:18.20, with Australian Catholic University taking bronze in 3:23.20.
SUAC’s Damien Mizzi, Hayden Fleming, Sally Guthrie and Brooke East claimed the bronze medal in the Mixed 4x400m Relay (3:42.81) behind the University of Technology Sydney (3.35.05) and UNSW (3:38.02). The first three teams ran under the previous record of 3:43.70.
Charlotte McGill finished third in the final of the women’s triple jump with a leap of 12.30m to claim bronze behind Deakin University’s Rachel Limburg (12.48m) and Newcastle University’s Tahla Pont (12.36m).
Fleming and Mizzi also made it through to the final of the men’s 400m, with Fleming running 4th in 48.59 and Mizzi finishing 8th in 49.62. UNSW’s Liam Webb won the event in 47.02, from Matthew Crowe (47.51) and Thomas Hunt (48.34).
And Guthrie made it into the final of the women’s 400m, where she ran 4th (56.94) behind UNSW’s Genevieve Cowie (55.49), Rowena Craker (56.02) and Emma O’Reilly (56.62).
Nearly 400 students representing 38 Australian universities took to the Gold Coast, Queensland, to compete in the track and field event from 19-21 April. SUAC, which boasts a long history of achievement in the sport, was represented by a team of 46 student-athletes, the largest cohort of all competing institutions.
UniSport CEO Mark Sinderberry was delighted to see so many student-athletes competing in the event. “To have nearly 400 students travel to the Gold Coast to take part in the championships is very encouraging,” he said. “This has been the largest athletics competition since 2017 and continues to confirm a strong interest in the return of sporting events amongst the university community. The championships also welcomed 10 para-athletes competing for their universities.”
SUAC’s other results at the Nationals included:
- Luke Schofield – 4th in the men’s 1500m timed finals – running from the B race that is a huge achievement.
- Laura Roderick – 4th in the women’s 1500m.
- Lucy Mauviel – 5th in the women’s 1500m.
- Matt Butler – 5th in the men’s hammer throw, PB.
- Tom Davies – 6th in the men’s 1500m.
- Alyssa Lowe – 6th in the women’s LG.
- Charlotte McGill – 7th in the women’s LJ.
- Stuart Downie – 8th in the men’s hammer throw.
- Caitlin Shepperson – 8th in the women’s hammer throw.
- Adam Schaffer – 8th in the men’s 10,000m.
- Emma Klasen – 9th in the women’s 100m, narrowly missing a spot in the final.
- Mia Economou – 11th in the women’s 100m.
- Sophie Gocher – 12th in the women’s 1500m.
- Ben Bishop – 16th in the men’s 1500m.
- Tom Tucker – 17th in the men’s 100m.
- Connor Whiteley – 18th in the men’s 1500m.
- Hayden Fleming – 19th in the men’s 100m.
- Elysha Cramer – 21st in the women’s 100m.
- Michelle Lee – 24th in the women’s LG.
- Kieran Gorman – 26th in the men’s 1500m.
- Iram Palma, Nathaniel Giallanza and Jacky Fan were participants in the men’s 100m, with Sophie McGovern and Julia Baxter running heats in the women’s 100m.
