University Wins Eight Championships at Nationals Division 1 2019

8 October; Liam Petterson

The University of Melbourne continued to prove it is one of the country’s premier sporting universities by winning eight National Championships at the 2019 UniSport Nationals Div 1 competition on the Gold Coast.

Women’s championship teams were Australian Rules Football, Badminton, Fencing, Surfing, Table Tennis and Touch Football, while Men’s teams brought home National Championships in Fencing and Volleyball.

National runners-up were earned by six teams – Women’s Basketball, Men’s Hockey, Men’s Kendo, Men’s Table Tennis, and Men’s and Women’s Tennis.

Third place was collected by Melbourne teams in Women’s Cycling, Women’s Football, Women’s Rowing, Women’s Volleyball and Mixed Squash.

A week before the main draw on the Gold Coast, the Women’s Surfing team also won the National Championship at Manly Beach in Sydney.

Leading from the front, both the University’s sporting captains earned gold medals. Alice Wu was part of the championship-winning Badminton side which dominated the University of Sydney to win 3 – 0 in the championship final, while Noam Tidhar won an individual Gold in Men’s Judo in his weight class, as well as taking the Champion-of-Champions title.

Back in the competition for the first time in a decade, the Women’s Australian Rules team won all seven of their matches to collect the trophy, as did the Men’s Volleyball side, while the Women’s Table Tennis and Touch Football teams also went undefeated.

Despite not taking home the National Championship in Rowing, the team placed first in three individual races – women’s eight, men’s coxed four and women’s single scull.

Full results and photos

After a decade-long absence from the competition, the women's Australian rules football team went undefeated to win gold. Photo: Sam Thompson

Judo gold for the University of Melbourne's men's sporting captain Noam Tidhar (centre). Photo: Sam Thompson

Gold for the men's fencing team for the 2nd consecutive year. Photo: Sam Thompson

Bronze for the women's football team after an impressive tournament, which included a 14 - 0 win over QUT. Photo: Sam Thompson

The women's touch football side went undefeated over 11 matches to take home the premiership. Photo: Sam Thompson

The men's volleyball team were ecstatic after defeating the University of Queensland 3 - 1 in the grand final. Photo: Sam Thompson