UniSport Australia celebrates and recognises outstanding contributions in 2022

For release: 18 May 2023

UniSport Australia (UniSport) last night honoured the 2022 sport award winners at the 2023 UniSport Gala dinner at the Brisbane City Hall.

Over 90 guests from the university sector, including student-athletes, Life Members and industry partners attended the awards night, a celebration of the success of the industry over the past 12 months.

UniSport Australia Chief Executive Officer, Mark Sinderberry congratulated all university members for the efforts over the past 12 months, highlighting the successful return to sport on university campuses and at a national level.

“The past few years challenged the industry, however the work that members have done on campus to reignite student engagement in health and wellbeing should be congratulated” Sinderberry said.

Sinderberry also extended his congratulations to the winners of the sports awards.

Ten categories were recognised, including Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year and Team of the Year. The winners were:

2022 Most Outstanding Performance by a Student-Athlete with a Disability, Tim Hodge from Western Sydney University

Tim competed at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Madeira winning two gold and a bronze medal as well as setting a world record in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley SM9. Tim also competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham winning a gold and silver medal.

2022 Most Outstanding Performance by an Indigenous Student-Athlete, Rae Anderson from The University of Sydney

Rae made her Winter Games debut at Beijing 2022; she became one of a select few to compete for Australia at both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. Rae finished in an impressive tenth position in the Women’s Giant Slalom Standing event and recorded a superb result in the Women’s Slalom Standing category to finish in seventh. Rae then went onto make her debut for the Paramatildas against Japan on the 13th of May.

2022 Most Outstanding Performance by a Student-Athlete, Jemima Montag from The University of Melbourne

In 2022, Jemima won the 10,000m Race Walk national and Oceania Championship titles, the gold medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and placed 4th at the IAAF World Championships. She also achieved two personal bests and broke the 18-year-old 20km Walk Australian Record.

2022 Most Outstanding University Sport Project/Program, RMIT Sports Academy

The RMIT Sports Academy offers a highly professional environment for a transformational student experience while preparing participants for life and work. In 2022, the Academy supported 76 student interns in Work Integrated Learning placements in high performance, the RMIT Health Clinic and Sports Media across the supported sports including Basketball, Tennis and E-Sport.

Most Outstanding Contribution by a Student Volunteer, Alex Smyth from RMIT University

As the RMIT Nationals Team Captain, Alexander led a team of over 150 students to the 2022 UniSport Nationals in Perth where he competed as an openly queer student-athlete and was an out role model for the entire Australian university sporting community. Alexander is also a UniSport Australia Inclusion Ambassador, is heavily involved in the planning and delivery of RMIT’s annual pride in sport event and a strong driver in delivering RMIT sport’s vision of inclusive sport.

Club Leadership Award, The Melbourne University Women’s Football Club

The Melbourne University Women’s Football Club has demonstrated outstanding leadership in 2022 in the areas of inclusion, mental health and policy development across areas including alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and safe transport.

Official of the Year, Andrew Truong from the University of South Australia

As a coach, team manager of committee member Andrew devotes significant time to the development and success of the UniSA Swimming Club. Often the first to arrive and last to leave training, Andrew has played a significant role in developing a positive club culture, strong committee, and organisation of social and charity events.

Team of the Year, the Macquarie University Men’s 3×3 Basketball Team

The Macquarie University Men’s 3×3 Team had a stand-out year in 2022, after clinching the 3×3 UniSport Nationals in Hobart in April the team were invited to attend the FISU University World Cup hosted in Istanbul, Turkey where they won a silver medal while representing Australia.

Female Student-Athlete of the Year, Quennie Laurentia from The University of Melbourne

Quennie was a key player in the University of Melbourne’s women’s badminton team throughout 2022, competing in the Big Blue Varsity Challenge against Monash and UniSport Nationals in Perth. She actively led the team to an outstanding year winning the Big Blue challenge and gold at the UniSport Nationals, providing coaching, advice, and encouragement to all team members across competitions.

Male Student-Athlete of the Year, Alastair Christie-Johnson from RMIT University

Alastair is a member of the RMIT Redbacks UniSport Nationals team and RMIT Elite Athlete Program, winning 4 individual medals at the 2022 UniSport Nationals in Perth. Alastair was awarded the UniSport Nationals Overall Cycling champion, as well as the Redbacks Athlete of the Year award.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Kylie Bloodworth

Marketing and Communications Manager

UniSport Australia

Phone: 0449 949 916

Email: kylie.bloodworth@unisport.com.au

About UniSport Australia

UniSport Australia (UniSport) is the peak body for university sport in Australia. 43 universities are members of UniSport, representing a population of over one million students. UniSport’s ambition is to become an integral partner of Australian universities to deliver an outstanding student experience at our national intervarsity sports competitions. UniSport is also committed to advocate on the value of sport on student experience.