Unitec Student Union Awards Top Athletes

Unitec Student Union Awards Top Athletes

Unitec’s sporting heroes were awarded last night at the Unitec Student Union’s (USU) inaugural Sporting Blue Awards, with Sportsperson of the Year going to national Squash champion and Commonwealth Games competitor Campbell Grayson.

USU Sports Coordinator and awards organiser Julie Bennett says the awards recognise the students’ ability to achieve outstanding sporting success while studying.

“It’s about recognising those students who can get the balance right between sporting and academic achievement,” says Bennett.

USU President Robert Freeth says that “it is the first time that the Blues have been awarded at Unitec and it was great to see that our students can foot it with the rest of the Universities”.

Campbell Grayson was awarded Sportsperson of the year for his achievement of fourth (Bronze) place in the Squash doubles at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Grayson was awarded with the inaugural trophy and a cash prize, which was donated by the National Bank.

Grayson was overwhelmed and honoured to be the first Unitec student to be given this award. “I’m pretty stoked; there were a lot of really great athletes up for this award,” he says.

The panel of judges included Rex Thomson (Chairperson), Robert Freeth (USU president), Julie Bennett and Ed Mason (School of Communications tutor and sports journalist). The judges took into account the level of the students’ athletic achievement, academic achievement and contribution to sport in the community, when choosing the recipients.

Unitec Student Union Blue Award Recipients for 2006:

Tracey Lemon (Triathlon)
Campbell Grayson (Squash)
Rosemary Gunn (Lacrosse)
Kate Saunders (Hockey)
Kristin Farrell (Golf)
Ashleigh Cox (Soccer)
Kirsty Yallop (Soccer)
Chad Coombes (Soccer)
Soulan Pownceby (Amateur Boxing)
Kahukura Bentson (Amateur Boxing)

ENDS

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