Sending a squad of just over 100 athletes (from the Melbourne, Bendigo and Albury-Wodonga campuses along with eight members of the La Trobe Elite Athlete Program) to Perth to compete in 10 different sports, La Trobe University recorded its best Uni Nationals result in recent memory with a 13th place finish.
In the first Uni Nationals competition held since 2019, Team La Trobe claimed 14 medals throughout the week in Perth; a marked improvement on the last campaign on the Gold Coast which yielded five medals.
Our swimmers were at the forefront, competing brilliantly throughout the competition and claiming ten medals.
Reidel Smith was outstanding with three golds and two silvers to her name, while Cameron Jordan also did an excellent job winning two golds and a bronze. Mia Holah rounded out the total with a silver and a bronze in what was a solid week for the team.
The Team La Trobe Men’s Basketball team had a stellar week. They dominated their competition and took home a gold medal by defeating Monash University 69-60 in the final.
Our Women’s Basketball team was also solid throughout the group stage but were unfortunately ousted in the quarter-final, and eventually finished in fifth place overall.
La Trobe’s Women’s Football team also had a strong campaign to medal in Perth. They rebounded after a tough first-up loss to eventual gold medallists University of Sydney to quickly find form through the group stages with a solid run of winning performances. They were beaten in the semi-final by grand finalists University of Wollongong, but still fought hard to claim a bronze medal in the playoff against Australian National University.
Another strong performer throughout the tournament, our Mixed Netball team also managed to claim a well-deserved bronze medal by beating the University of Western Australia in the medal playoff.
In other individual sports, La Trobe cyclist Stephanie Hibburt was impressive in her competition, claiming a silver medal for her efforts. Meanwhile, our taekwondo squad had a fantastic campaign with four medals overall, including one gold and three bronze.
Both our Men’s and Women’s Volleyball teams had inconsistent Uni Nationals campaigns, however they still managed to have some success by winning three and four games respectively throughout the tournament.
Finally, the La Trobe Men’s and Women’s Badminton teams also had their share of ups and downs throughout the tournament, but like our Volleyball teams, would still be glad that they could clinch a couple of victories by winning three and two games respectively during their campaign. Meanwhile, our Mixed Lacrosse team also tried their hardest but unfortunately didn’t come home with any victories.
In the end however, it was a solid Uni Nationals campaign for La Trobe University as a whole and all of our athletes can be proud of their achievements throughout the week.
For more information on the 2022 Uni Nationals including all of our Team La Trobe athlete's results, head to the UniSport Australia website.
Brandon Patane is a third-year Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sports Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow him and see more of his work on Twitter @brandonp_13.
