Three medals have been won by University of South Australia students competing for Australia at World University Championships across the world in 2018.
Occupational Therapy student Lauren Kildare and Exercise Physiology Honours student Alice Gregory won a silver medal competing in the Rugby 7’s Championships in Namibia, Africa.
In St Gallen, Switzerland, Human Movement/Teaching student Caitlin Adams earned a bronze medal in the mixed team relay at the World Uni Cross Country Championships.
With those students claiming two of the 10 medals earned by Australian student-athletes across 22 Championships in 2018, it signifies a very successful year for UniSA.
Kildare and Gregory competed in the World Uni 7's Championships in July this year and had a very successful opening of the tournament, winning game one against Belgium 17-10 and having a massive 36-0 win in game two over Brazil.
They stumbled against the favourites, France, in game three and went down 5-15, but that was still enough to secure them a place in the semi-final.
In the semi, they put on a classy performance to secure victory over South Africa 21-10 and a place in the grand final.
Despite Gregory scoring a try in the final, it wasn’t enough to overrun the quality France outfit, and they went down 7-24 and received the silver medal.
In April this year, Adams competed in the women’s cross country event, where she ran 10km along a course full of hills, log barriers and pot holes.
Adams finished 14th out of 60 competitors and was the second placed Australian, something she was pleased with.
“I was very proud of this result as I know that I raced tough and left everything out on the course,” Adams said, adding “Being my first open age international event, I have learnt a lot from the experience as an athlete and am very hungry for the next opportunity.”
Australia earned the team bronze medal with the first two male and female finishers from each country being awarded points in that category.
All three students received an Amateur Athlete Grant from UniSA Sport to help fund their travels to Namibia and St Gallen respectively.
Congratulations to Lauren, Alice and Caitlin for their terrific results and for representing the University so well.
To learn more about Lauren and Alice's story, and how they felt pre-World University Championships, click here.