The 2023 edition of the Division 1 & 2 UniSport Nationals held from September 23-29 saw Team La Trobe record a medal tally consisting of 12 gold medals, six silver and nine bronze.
UniSport Nationals provides an opportunity for students at the 42 member universities from across Australia to compete head-to-head in the only national standard university sporting competition. The Uni Nationals Championship is comprised of the annual flagship event, the Division 1 & 2 UniSport Nationals, and several standalone national championships for various sports throughout the year.
Overall, La Trobe University sent a squad of 119 student athletes (including 12 members of the La Trobe Elite Athlete Program) to the Gold Coast this year for the UniSport Nationals to compete in 11 different sports.
Headlining the impressive results was the performance of our Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams, who each claimed gold in their respective Division 1 competitions.
La Trobe’s Women’s Basketball team continued their championship-winning run, adding a UniSport Nationals gold medal to their back-to-back University Basketball League (UBL) titles they have claimed in both 2022 and 2023. The Eagles were undefeated throughout the week and captured yet another piece of silverware for the burgeoning trophy cabinet with a 81-66 victory against University of Melbourne in the gold medal match.
Meanwhile, our Men’s Basketball team made it two UniSport Nationals gold medals in successive years, backing up their success in Perth last year to repeat the dose this year. After a somewhat disappointing UBL campaign which saw them miss the competition playoffs, the Eagles found their groove on the Gold Coast to also go through the tournament undefeated on the way to defeating University of Adelaide 60-53 in the final.
Team La Trobe’s third Division 1 team sport gold medal for the UniSport Nationals campaign came in the Women’s Beach Volleyball, with La Trobe University co-captain and La Trobe Elite Athlete Program member Marija Lukic teaming up with Lucia La Terra. The La Trobe duo overcame defending champions James Cook University in front of a packed Team La Trobe crowd to claim gold in an entertaining final.
Rounding out the team sport medals was the Women’s Netball team, who got the better of University of Canberra in the Division 2 bronze medal playoff, 50-33.
La Trobe also experienced success in a range of individual sports, with the martial arts sports in particular producing a number of fine performances over the course of the week:
Judo
- Jaiden Brandy (Gold – Men's +100kg)
- Alex Hudson (Bronze – Men's –90kg)
Taekwondo
- Niyousha Shabani (Gold – Freestyle Poomsae, Silver – Sparring & Bronze – Team Poomsae)
- Po Ching Pang (Gold – Sparring, Silver – Sparring & Bronze – Freestyle Poomsae)
- Iman Zayat (Gold – Sparring, Bronze – Team Poomsae & Bronze – Pairs Poomsae)
- Kayla Smit (Gold – Sparring & Bronze – Team Poomsae)
- Alara Yigitoglu (Silver – Sparring)
- Awab Elbashir (Gold – Sparring)
- Ryan Effrianto (Gold – Sparring & Silver – Team Poomsae)
- Benjamin Green (Silver – Sparring & Silver – Team Poomsae)
- Cecilia Jones (Silver – Poomsae & Bronze Sparring)
- Leon Kojima (Bronze – Pair Poomsae & Silver – Team Poomsae)
- Daaniyaal Smail (Gold – Sparring)
- Tsz Ching Christy Ip (Gold – Freestyle Poomsae & Silver – Sparring)
Fencing
- Melody Lee (Silver – Women's Saber)
Golf
- Cody Cuthbert (Bronze – Men's Golf)
Team La Trobe’s excellent performances on the Gold Coast in the Division 1 & 2 UniSport Nationals now has La Trobe well placed to record a top 10 result in the overall Uni Nationals Championship (inclusive of results from the standalone Nationals championships), which will ultimately be finalised following the T20 Cricket Championships in November.
For more information on the 2023 Uni Nationals, head to the UniSport Australia website. For an album of Team La Trobe images from the event, head to the La Trobe Sport Facebook page.
If you would like to register your interest in representing Team La Trobe at the 2024 UniSport Nationals in Canberra next year, click here.
