Being good sports

We’re Harry and Mackie, the UC Sports Representatives for 2023. So far this year, we’ve had outstanding participation and support for sport across the board, with some record-breaking results.

Semester 1 kicked off with intercollegiate cricket, with both the men’s and women’s teams giving it their all on the field. The sunny weather of early March and camaraderie of our athletes combined to produce amazing results – we’d particularly like to mention our men’s team for finishing in third place in a tight minor final against Trinity College.

Following the cricket was tennis, where our squad of eight athletes headed down to the University of Melbourne tennis courts in the early hours of the morning to compete in four events; the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles tournament. Round one saw UC come out on top against Newman College, before narrowly missing out on qualifying for the semi-finals against St Hilda’s. Table tennis was run as a two-day tournament at the university’s indoor stadium, with UC competing in several events across the day.

The three major carnivals of semester 1 (cross-country, athletics and swimming) produced some stellar results. The 5km cross-country course was run around Princes Park on a rather gloomy Wednesday morning. We send a massive congrats to the eleven brave runners who put themselves forward to compete in the rain!

The two-day athletics carnival was a wonderful excuse for all UCer’s to come together with a sausage sizzle down at the UniMelb track. UC competed in several field and track events, with particular mention to Kate Synoradzki, Tom McShane, James Mawson, Nat Paterson, Henry Woods, Jacqueline McBratney-Owen, Louis Young, Peter Bowles, Ollie Edwards, Henry Meggitt and Georgie Norris for qualifying in the top twelve places of their heats to make their respective finals! Amazing effort from all our athletes for filling our lanes on the day.

The intercollegiate swimming carnival was held on the 21st of April, with the biggest crowd yet. Combining a second place in the women’s events and fourth in the men’s, UC finished in an overall third place behind Trinity and Ormond. This is UC’s best finish in the swimming carnival, which was undoubtedly fostered by the massive support from our UC spectators. Particular mention to Addie Skipper for winning her 50m freestyle!

The last of the major sporting carnivals for the semester was rowing day! Our rowers, coaches and captains worked tirelessly to prepare for the regatta and it was a day to remember. We won the women’s and men’s B finals and placed fourth overall. An impressive result!

Moving onto hockey and soccer, UC saw a brilliant effort from all athletes. Both the men’s soccer and women’s hockey teams progressed to the semi-finals, where our teams narrowly missed out on making their grand finals. Nonetheless, our athletes put their all into their minor finals, with both taking fourth place. The women’s soccer and men’s hockey teams also had brilliant seasons, with both narrowly missing out on their respective semi-finals. Good work to all!

Semester 2 will be absolutely jampacked, with plenty of sports to come including; netball, AFL, basketball, badminton, volleyball and squash. Keep your eyes out for photos and results on the UC socials.

Harry Beasley

Male Sports Representative

2nd Year Applied Science Student

RMIT

Mackie Whiteley

Female Sports Representative

2nd Year Science Student

University of Melbourne