UQ dominated at the 2008 Australian University Games in Melbourne last month, winning the athletics crown for the 10th successive year.
With more than 6500 participants descending on Melbourne for the flagship university sporting event of the year, the small UQ contingent racked up 18 medals alone in the athletics competition to cap off another successful year for UQ.
UQ SPORT scholarship holder Josh Robinson spearheaded the athletics squad, winning gold in the javelin ahead of fellow UQ student Thomas Hall, who claimed silver.
This year’s Bridge to Brisbane 5km race winner, Jayden Russ, continued his fine form to take out gold in the 3000m steeplechase and bronze in the 1500m, while Fraser Coss maintained UQ’s domination of the track to win bronze in the 400m and finish fourth in the 800m.
The women picked up from where the men left off at Olympic Park, with Tamara Carvolth burning up the track to win gold and set an Australian University Games record in the 10,000m (35:33:53), as well as earning silver in the 5000m.
Winning her first Open Australian Championship title this year, UQ SPORT / Clem Jones scholarship holder Catherine Drummond was just pipped by rival Ellen Pettitt in the high jump to claim silver, and the talented athlete also finished fourth in the long jump.
Tracey Barnett and Mark Lawrence increased the medal haul, both hop, skip and jumping into first position in triple jump, while Ms Barnett (pictured) also backed up to take out silver in long jump.
In other sports, the UQ women’s water polo team once again excelled to claim gold in division two with a
12-6 victory over University of New South Wales, while the men’s team won bronze in division one following a 6-3 win against Melbourne.
The talented rugby union sevens team, bolstered by several University club players, looked on track to claim a gold medal but, following a loss against a strong University of New England outfit, they bounced back to defeat QUT and win bronze.
The UQ mixed touch football team was also victorious, with a second UQ team finishing in sixth.
Program Officer of College Sport and University Games, Kate Bell, said the team performed admirably.
“It was a big effort to make it overall athletics champions for the 10th year running and a fabulous result
so they (the athletes) were obviously extremely happy with it,” Ms Bell said.
“A lot of praise goes to (athletics coach) Pat Clohessy who put in a lot of hours and a lot of work to get that team up and running as strongly as it is.”
Media: Kellie-Ann Williams at UQ SPORT (Kellie-Ann Williams at UQ SPORT (07 3345 6034, kellieannw@uqsport.uq.edu.au)
