Uni Games can mean many different things to many different students. For some it’s a chance to show off their sporting prowess, for others a chance to socialise, but one thing is central to the ethos of “Uni Games” – it’s the best four days of the year.
The 2016 University Games began with much promise for ANU, as plenty of our teams – Ultimate Frisbee, Mixed Touch, Men’s Football, Badminton and Squash – were made up of talented athletes and looking for Gold medal results.
Prior to this year’s University Games, students walking around campus would have seen many of the ANU teams training in preparation. Whether it was in the Sports Halls or on Willows, Fellows, or South, hard training sessions took place numerous times per week. Practice matches also occurred for various teams against the University of Canberra, University of Western Sydney, and local opposition. With mixed results from these pre-games matches, hopes were high heading into that “one week” in July.
Wollongong played host for Eastern University Games this year. With pristine beaches and mountainous terrain overlooking many of the fields, it really was quite picturesque. At the games, the results were mixed. The Owls came in at 11th overall in the competition. Here is your sport by sport summary:
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Nick Richardson – Silver medal in Golf
Doug Langdon – Bronze medal in Golf
Aidan Parkes – Silver medal in Squash
Jez Cheng – Bronze medal in Badminton
OVERALL PLACINGS
The AFL boys came 6th with Will Delchau scoring 25 goals in 6 matches to earn himself the best and fairest votes.
Badminton came in at 2nd place with an excellent performance from Jez Cheng.
The Soccer A team came in in 7th place, with Joshua Lagudah performing excellently over the week. The Soccer B team followed them up in 11th place. Ben Jowett was best and fairest for the B team, and their 5-1 UTS defeat is definitely the something to be proud of. The women’s soccer came in at 11th with the B&F going to Millie Spyridpoulos.
ANU’s Women’s futsal team had nothing negative to say about their best and fairest goalkeeper, Tessa Lavers. They came in at 5th and are very happy with their result.
Nick Richardson was in the lead up until the last day of competition in golf, getting overtaken by just one stroke! The golf boys came 4th.
Our men’s and women’s hockey teams were headed up by David Carroll and Anna Christoff, who lead both teams to fifth place. In best and fairest, Georgia Barnes was the leader of the votes for the girls, despite missing almost every open goal she was offered. Callum Fryer did a cracking job of goalkeeping over the week and was awarded the men’s best & fairest.
Congratulations to the silver medallist mixed touch team, almost scraping a win in the gold medal match. Men’s and women’s touch both came in in 7th place, with Ryan Allen taking out the B&F for the men’s team.
The ANU women’s volleyball team were given a tough pool at the 2016 UniGames, and so came in at 7th with Alison Fong winning best and fairest on the court.
Over at the Mixed Ultimate Disc, Matt Daly and Clare Barcham from the A team impressed their teammates with their solid performance, with both teams coming in at 9th place. The B team voted in Sachit Barooah & Ariel Ivanovici.
Lawn bowls claimed the 9th spot on the ladder, with the shocking weather on some days no doubt causing some upset.
Our Netball playing owls came in at 13th place, with Declan Pratt for mixed netball and Grace Templeton for women’s netball raking in the best & fairest points.
The men’s squash team claimed their bronze medal with style, with Aidan Parkes having an excellent week.
It was fantastic to see over 220 ANU students having fun at the Opening Ceremony, wearing team colours, and showing utter pride in our university. The Owls showed exemplary behaviour on all nights out, being at the venues until close in many circumstances, and being true socialites of the Games. Despite the sore heads in the morning from action packed nights at the Ivory, Harp and Mr. Crown, ANU continued to embrace the spirit of the Owl in all matches, despite how early in the morning they were.
Congratulations to all athletes that attended, especially to those teams and individuals that brought home some medals for the Owl’s.
A massive thank you on behalf of all the students that attended this year’s Eastern Unigames goes out to ANU Sport for coordinating the week, and doing an excellent job of it.
Check out the ANU Sport UniGames Facebook page for information about Australian UniGames in Perth!
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.