Matildas stars Clare Polkinghorne and Tameka Butt have jointly taken out the 2017 Most Outstanding Sporting Achievement at the Griffith Sports Blues Awards.

The Griffith postgraduate students were part of the Australia team that dominated world soccer during the year, defeating traditional powerhouses Brazil and the United States in the process. Tameka proved the game-breaker in the historic first-time triumph over the US with the winning goal.

After completing a Bachelor of Business, Tameka has started a double degree Master of Business/Master of Marketing. Clare completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science (with honours) before embarking on her current studies, a Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

“It was a privilege to watch Clare and Tameka on top of their game as part of a Matildas team very much on top of the world game,” Duncan Free OAM, Director of Griffith Sports College, said. “They have done their country and they have done their university proud.”

The Academic Athlete of the Year Award went to Lauren Brown, captain of the Griffith team which competed in the inaugural Aon Uni 7s Series in 2017. The prestigious award recognises the student who maintains the highest grade point average across three trimesters while taking into consideration their study and sporting load.

Lauren graduated from Griffith Business School this week with a Bachelor of Sport Management and Event Management after returning from Fiji where she played with the Australian Rugby Sevens team last week.

“Lauren’s diligence, dedication and leadership on and off the field made her a very worthy recipient of this award,” Naomi McCarthy, Manager of Griffith Sports College, said.

A total of 46 full blue and 29 half blue award recipients were named by Griffith University for 2017. Business student and swimming star Leiston Pickett was inducted into the Australian University SportHonour Roll.

The annual Blues Awards, which is run by Griffith Sports College in association with Griffith Sport, recognise outstanding sporting performances of Griffith University students along with the diversity of sporting opportunities at the University.

The Full Blues are awarded to athletes that have represented Australia at the senior/open level and half blues go to athletes that have represented Australia at the junior level or at World University Games.