Blues Awards for Sporting Excellence returns

This year the Griffith University Blues Awards for Sporting Excellence have been reintroduced as a true blue celebration of sport on the Gold Coast campus.
The awards night was provided as a joint effort between the Griffith University Gold Coast Student Guild and the Griffith Sports College to celebrate the achievements of student athletes as Full Blue (Open and International) and Half Blue (Junior, State & National) Award winners.
The function held on Wednesday 23 October at 6.30pm at the Gold Coast Student Guild UniBar with the universities top athletes will be in attendance including:

Cameron McEvoy (Swimming)
Australian National Swim Champs — 2nd 100m Free
Australian National Swim Champs — 2nd 200m Free
2013 Swim World Champs Barcelona — 2nd 4 x 100m Free
2013 Swim World Champs Barcelona — 4th 100m Free
(And has broken Ian Thorpe’s U16 and U17 100m freestyle records)

Bronwen Knox & Ashleigh Southern (Water Polo)
2012 London Olympics — Bronze Medal
2013 World Champs Barcelona — Silver Medal

Brodie Moir
World Ironwoman Champion
2012 Coolangatta Gold Winner / 2013 Runners Up

The history behind the Blues Awards
The historical reference point for the Blues Awards dates back to events in 1829 when the first boat race held between Oxford and Cambridge Universities was rowed on the River Thames from Hambleden Lock to Henley Bridge, a distance of about 2.25 miles.
There were Old Etonians in either boat and as the crews had no distinctive uniform to identify them, just before the start a Cambridge Etonian tied a light blue scarf to the little post at the bow of his boat and an Oxford Etonian tied a dark blue scarf to the bow of his.
Thus began a tradition and a basis for the award of Blues for outstanding achievement in university sport, a tradition adopted by English-speaking universities in many parts of the world.
Check out these photos from the night on Facebook – GUGC Student Guild Photo Album

2013 Blues Awards for Sporting Excellence

HALF BLUE AWARD WINNERS

Kerrod Connors — BMX

• 2013 Junior World BMX Championships

Jesse Kerrison — Cycling

• 6 time Green Jersey in the National Road Series 2013
• 2 National Road Series stage wins 2013
• Budget Forklifts Team member 2013

Andrew Ready — Rugby

• 2013 U20 Australian Team
• 2013 Squad for Qld Reds

Emily Roper — Cycling

• 2013 Joined Suzuki Bontrager Pro Team
• 2013 Gold U23 National Championship Road Race

Jessica Walker — Swimming

• 2013 Summer Universaide
  • 10km Open Water Swim — 5^th
  • 2013 World Cups, 5^th & 13^th
  • 2013 1^st – Rottnest Channel Swim

Loren Rowney — Cycling

• 2013 Sweden World Cup Team Time Trial — 1’st
• Stage win 2013 Languedoc Rousillion, France
• Stage win 2013 Gracia Orlova, Czech Republic

Christina Ruiz — Surf Lifesaving

• Selected in the 2012 Australian Team for the World Surf Lifesaving Championships.
• 5 x Open Champion at Singapore Invitational

Darcy Taylor – Diving

• 2013 Summer Universaide — 13^th 3m
• Australian Rep at Canada Cup in Qubec — 3m 13^th

Aaron Murphy – Kayaking

• 2013 Summer Universaide
• K1 1000m, K1 500m, K2 1000m, K4 1000, K4 500m, K4 250

FULL BLUE AWARD WINNERS

Michael Anderson – Swimming

• 2012 London Paralympics
  • Silver in 100m backstroke
  • Gold 4x100m free relay
  • Bronze 4×100 medly relay

Billy Bain – Kayaking

• 2013 U23 World Championships
  • Bronze K1 1000m
  • 2013 Senior World Championships
    • K2 500

Dane Bird-Smith — Race-walking

• 2013 IAAF World Championships
  • 11^th 20km race walk

Sarah Bombell — Synchronised Swimming – Jenny-Lyn Anderson

• 2012 London Olympics
  • Team — 8^th place
  • 23^rd in the Duet

Matthew Cameron — Track and Field

• 2012 London Paralympic Games
  • 9^th 100m
  • Bronze 4x400m
  • 2013 World Championships
    • 6^th 400m
    • 8^th 200m
    • 7^th 100m
    • 4^th 4x400m (DQ)

Ashleigh Gentle — Triathlon

• 2012 Reserve Australian Olympic Team
• 2013 ITU Series
  • 5 top 10 finishes
  • 7^th overall ranking

Jess Hall — Rowing

• 2012 Gold U23 World Champions — Womens Quad Scull
• 2013 8^th World Championships

Bronwen Knox — Waterpolo

• 2012 London Olympics —
  • Bronze medal – backing up from the bronze in 2008
  • 2013 World Championships
    • Silver Medal
    • 8 years on National Team

Dev Lahey — Surf Lifesaving

• 2012 Surf Lifesaving World Championships
  • Gold – Surf Swim
  • Multi Tri-Nation International Surf Rescue Chellenge
    • 3/3 wins

Cameron McEvoy — Swimming

• 2013 World Championships
  • 4^th 100m freestyle
  • 2^nd 4x100m medly
  • 7^th 200m freestyle
  • 4^th 4x100m freestyle
  • 9^th 4x200m freestyle
  • 2012 London Olympics (non GU student)
    • 4^th 4x100m freestyle

Melinda McLeod — BMX

• 2013 World Championships
  • 4^th Time Trial
  • 11^th race

Ashleigh Southern — Waterpolo

• 2012 London Olympics —
  • Bronze medal – backing up from the bronze in 2008
  • 2013 World Championships
    • Silver Medal
    • 4 years on National Team

Kelsey Wakefield — Waterpolo

• 2013 World Championships
  • Silver Medal

Bernadette (Bernie) Wallace – Kayaking

• 2013 World Kayaking Championships
  • 7^th K4 500…. A few Work Cup wins on the way through

Chris Wright — Swimming

• 2012 London Olympics
  • Semi finalist in both 100m & 200m butterfly
  • 2013 World Swimming Championships
    • 100m butterfly
    • Great Ambassador for the Sports College