Victoria brings the Shield back to Wellington

Friday 21 April 2006

Victoria brings the Shield back to Wellington

The coveted 83-year-old University Games Shield has been won by the host-team Victoria University of Wellington.

After an exciting week of competition, Victoria University was the clear winner.

Jim Ellis, Executive Director of the University Sport New Zealand, says Victoria, with the biggest team and the home-town advantage, were deserved winners.

“All week we’ve seen Victoria consistently perform well – and now they’ve earned the right to keep the Shield in the Capital.”

The small campus university award was won by Massey University, Wellington.

More than 2000 students took part in the major sporting event and University Sport New Zealand are extremely pleased with the outcome.

“We’ve had a fantastic week here in Wellington. The weather has been fantastic, the sport has been of an excellent level, and the students really seem to have enjoyed themselves.”

Highlights of today’s finals include:

Aquathon
AUT’s Caleb Hill cruised to victory in today’s aquathon, successfully defending the title he won in last year’s Games. The 21 year-old physiotherapy student barely broke into a sweat as he crossed the line in 25.22 minutes. Hill found the 750m swim in choppy seas and the 4km run “pretty tough” but he was happy with the result. Hill got his first taste of the discipline as a nine-year-old in the Weetbix kiwi-kids triathlon, and has never looked back since. In 2004 he competed in the World U19 Championships coming a credible 33rd. Last year he ran in 19th in the World 20-25 year-old championships in Honolulu. Shannon Barnett of Victoria and Matt Macleod of AUT came in second and third respectively. In the women’s aquathon race, Massey Palmerston North’s Alice Weaver came from behind to take the win. Victoria’s Jill McCarthy set a blistering pace in the swim, but Weaver hunted her down in the run, and she ended up placing third, after Katie Bennett, also from Victoria.

Beach volleyball
AUT sisters, Justine and Hayley Stovold, dominated the women’s beach volleyball today, claiming gold in a convincing final win. The sisters bet Sarah McLean and Renee Handley also from AUT, 21-10 and 21-6 in the final this afternoon. Johanna McNabb and Trish Nairn of Massey Wellington collected the bronze. In the men’s competition, the final was closely contested with Victoria’s Bevan Erueti and Silos Avery coming up tops, beating Danny Smith and Adam Eggleton, also from Victoria, 21-19 and 21-12. Canterbury’s Rob Fluery and Hamish Wright came third.

Touch rugby
Canterbury University won the men’s touch rugby final against Waikato University, today in a close 6-5 game. Waikato put up a gritty defence but Canterbury dominated territory. Canterbury’s coach/player, Mike Hughes, said it was a tough game. “We played them in the earlier rounds and they were definitely the toughest team. We seemed to get there in the end though.”

Ultimate Frisbee
Canterbury maintained their dominance in Ultimate Frisbee competition, beating Auckland 12-6 at the Basin Reserve today. Victoria Gold beat AUT for the bronze medal earlier in the day.

Rugby league
Canterbury’s unbeaten run in the rugby league competition continued in the final at the Basin Reserve today, walloping Victoria 42-12 in an eight tries to two victory. Canterbury centre Ben Hurrell scored a hat-trick, while winger Matthew Dean picked up a double. Sam Lemaile, Ollie Needham and Scott Hurrell also scored tries with Scott Hurrell kicking five goals for a match haul of 14 points. Centre Nic Marshall scored two tries for Victoria both of which were converted by Julian Balasingam. In the day’s other match Auckland beat Otago 36-14 to claim the bronze medal.

Underwater hockey
Victoria University won the underwater hockey competition, which had 53 students participating in six teams. Canterbury University came second in a very close final that the 6-2 score didn’t represent. The tournament team, picked for performance over the past three days, was: Darren Foo (Victoria), Jessica Massey (Otago), Adela May (Otago), Mark Shepherd (Canterbury), Joel Hattie (Auckland University) and Emma Rae (Auckland University).

ENDS

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