UniSA Sport Awards Night 2020 Wrap

Kirralee Thomas

2020-12-16T17:10:42

The contributions and achievements of many of those involved in UniSA Sport over the past 12 months were celebrated on Tuesday night at the annual UniSA Sport Awards Night.

Reflective of 2020, the Awards Night was held online via Zoom for the first time, with just the finalists attending in person, but that didn’t stop individuals, clubs and teams being highlighted with a strong list of finalists in each category.

Long distance runner Caitlin Adams was awarded the top honour of the night, the Georgie Rowe Outstanding Achievement Award, after running a state record in the State Championships in March and taking out the 10,000m event for Team UniSA at the UniSport Australia Virtual Distance Running Championships as well as her significant contribution to the sport of Athletics.

Track Cyclist, Human Movement student and guest speaker on the night Caitlin Ward earned a three-peat, winning the Female Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year after winning a bronze medal for Australia at a World Cup.

Triathlete Steve McKenna went back-to-back too, winning the Male Athlete of the Year for the second time for his efforts in triathlons around the world.

For the first time, the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability was awarded and won by Lillee Wakefield who competes state and national level in both athletics and judo.

After being crowned champions of the UniSport Nationals Online Cycle Series, UniSA’s Men’s Zwift Cycling Team won Team of the Year.

The Club of the Year Award went to the UniSA Rock Climbing Club for their significant efforts in engaging their 125 members throughout a difficult year as well as their strong club governance.

President of the UniSA Tennis Club Douglas Howard received the Club Administrator of the Year Award, for being at the forefront of all UniSA Tennis achievements in 2020.

Victoria McCarron won the Volunteer of the Year Award after going above and beyond her role as secretary for the UniSA Hockey Club.

Caitlin Adams winning Georgie Rowe Outstanding Achievement Award and Caitlin Ward's speech
Caitlin Adams with the Georgie Rowe Outstanding Achievement Award

The UniSA Sport Blues, Half Blues and Club Colours awards recognise the sporting achievements and contribution of UniSA students and volunteers.

For their efforts in UniSport National virtual competitions this year along with their other outstanding sporting achievements, Caitlin Adams and cyclists Callum Pearce and Chelsea Holmes were awarded Half Blues.

Kelsey Piltz, Racheal Ki, Eunice Emina, Darren Kawka, Arnold Opindi, Anna Nguyen, Luke Harris, Emma Pretty, Sarah Moulton, Benjamin Travers, Gaire Tane, Bevan Dowd, Chelsea Danher-Hart, Andrew Berney, Hoang Pham, Nathan Farmer and Nicola Cann were all awarded Club Colours awards for their significant contributions to their respective UniSA Sport clubs.

Due to COVID-19 and limited international travel and competition opportunities, there were no Blues Award recipients this year as no students had the chance to meet the criteria.

Other milestones celebrated on the night included the 50-year anniversary of the UniSA Hockey Club and the 25-year anniversary of the UniSA Shodokan Aikido Club, while the founder of the Shodokan Aikido Club, Andrew Bereny, was acknowledged for 25 years of service.

UniSA’s UniSport Nationals volleyball coach Peter Rowe was also recognised after receiving the 2019 UniSport Australia Official of the Year Award in May 2020.

The results from the Vice Chancellor’s Cup were also announced, with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (UniSA STEM) and the Student Engagement Unit (SEU) named joint winners for their wins and placings in the two events earlier in the year.

Despite the challenging year for sport, there were many achievements to celebrate amongst the individuals, clubs and teams within the UniSA Sport community.

We congratulate and thank all who contributed to UniSA Sport this year and look forward to seeing everyone in 2021.

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