2008 Ben Lexcen Sports Scholar

Daniel Natusch, returning scholar and winner of the 2007 ‘Scientia Sprint’ up the main walkway during O-Week, has also achieved a number of other notable results over the last year.

Daniel competed at the Men’s National qualifiers in the 200m. Daniel is the New Zealand Under 20’s 200m national champion.

Daniel finished in the fourth place in the NSW Open men’s 200m and was crowned the Oceania Open Men’s Long Jump champion.

Ed Caroll is a new scholar from AFL. In 2006 Ed was a memeber of the U17 NSW AFL Team as well as a member of the U17 Sydney AFL Team. Last year Ed was a member of the U18 Sydney AFL Team where he was ranked 3rd citywide Best and Fairest. He was also Best and Fairest from Riverview, where he captained the U16s and U18s. Ed received 7 votes towards a Phelan Medal for Sydney Senior Most Valuable Player.

Ed has a solid junior pedigree with a track record of representative achievement and is a very promising player for the future.

In 2007 Michael performed well in three pre-season trial games and was announced deputy vice-captain of the UNSW-ES 1st Grade Unfortunately he sustained a serious knee injury in the 1st round of the competition proper, which sidelined him for a lengthy period of rehabilitation.

Upon his return, Michael was judged best on ground for the final five matches of the season. As of November last year, Michael began a pre-season training regime under the direction of the newly appointed head coach Terry Mudge. He has also been named as part of the club’s leadership group for the 2008 season.

Michael has also continued to play an active role in the operation and organization of the club, assisting in organizing the team for the AUGs, fundraising, coaching, social events. Michael is a returning Lexcen scholar.

In 2007 Spoorti played in a number of national and international tournaments. She was a quarter finalist in the Ladies Singles at the Ballarat Eureka International Championship and a pre-quarter finalist in the Ladies doubles. She was also a pre-quarter finalist in the Victorian International Championship, the Australian Championship in Brisbane an the North Shore City International in Auckland. She won the Open Grade Mixed Doubles in the UNSW Easter Open. Spoorti was part of the UNSW Ladies Team that won silver in ECC and led the Badminton team to a silver medal at AUGs Div 1.

Luke Overs is a new Lexcen scholar for Basketball. Luke ahs been a State Team representative in under 18’s and under 16’s where he has been co-captain. Luke has been a member of NSWIS, and a Youth League representative for the Sydney Comets, where he won 3 consecutive championships. Luke also gained valuable experience with the Sydney Kings development squad.

Ben Miller is a new scholar in the sport of Canoe Slalom. Ben’s talent for the sport as first recognized through the 2004 AIS ‘Beyond Beijing’ Talent Squad. Since then, Ben developed quickly and is now a member of the Australian Junior Slalom Team and the NSW State Junior Slalom Team. In 2006 Ben traveled to New Zealand with the Australian Junior Development Team and competed in the NZ Pre-National Slalom Championships, coming third in U18, the Nationals coming 6th in the U18 K1 and the NZ Schools Championships where he came 2nd in Senior Men’s K1 and 3rd in Senior Men’s C1.

On his return to Australia, Ben’s best result was coming 1st in the 2007 Pre-Australian Slalom Championship under 18 and 3rd in under 22. He came 3rd in the Australian Slalom Championship U18, 10% above the fastest time on course.

In July 2007 Ben traveled to Europe with the Australian Junior Slalom Team, gaining valuable competition experience in the Czech Republic. Ben is showing great promise and is hoping to qualify for London 2012.

Rosamond Kember is a new scholar in Cricket. Rosamond has been a key member of the first grade team of the Universities Women's Cricket Club since 2004. She has been a member of the New Zealand White Ferns squad since 2004. Rosamond has also been a member of the Auckland Hearts since 2002. She was a standby player for the NZ Team to the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup and 2004 tour to England. She was a member of the squad that won the NatWest series against Engalnd in 2007.

In the Universities first grade team, Rosamond opens the batting each week, provides advice and mentoring to younger club members and assists with coaching.

Sara Hungerford is a returing scholar for Cricket. Sara has been named Universities Women's Club Captain and First Grade Captain for 2007/08. Sara was also selected as Captain of the NSW 2nd XI Team, which took 1st place in the Cricket Australia Cup in Melbourne. During the 4 games she took 8 wickets at 8.15 and scored 88 runs at 22.

Sara has been involved in the NSW elite development program since 1998. Due to her excellent performance in the NSW 2nd XI Team Sara was selected as a member of the NSW Breakers squad.

In 2006/07 Sara played for the Auckland Hearts in the NZ State League and was a member of the NSW touring side that went to the New Zealand.

Sara has coached the UWCC 2nd grade team and been actie on the cub committee as social coordinator.

Ewan Watson is a returning scholar in Cross Country Ski. Ewan has been a member of the National Junior Team since 2003. In 2004 Ewan competed in the World Junior Championships in Norway. In 2005 Ewan was ranked 3rd in the national junior rankings, and in the senior ranks finished ahead of the number one junior. In January 2007 Ewan was selected to represent Australian in the World University Games that were held in Torino, Italy. Ewan qualified again for the World Junior Cross Country Championships in 2007.

Kathleen has been selected in the NSW Under 21 Squad in 2008 - an excellent achievement As well as playing fo the UNSW Hockey Club last year, Kathleen has performed well witht he Strikers Metro 1, the Eastern Districts State League Team and the UNSW ED Eastern Districts team. Kathleen competed for the Sydney-2 Opens Indoor team in Division 1 and her team ended up Premiers after defeating Macarthur in the grand final.

Kathleen is a returing Lexcen scholar. In 2007 she captained and managed UNSW's ECC and AUG teams, which came 4th in the ECC and unfortunately missed on the semis at AUG.

Kathlen's efforts have been awarded with the Strikers Metro 1 Team Coach's Award for 2007.

Daniel Waldmann made a successful return from injury, fighting his way straight to the top ranks of judo competition. Daniel is a returning scholar. He won the 2007 Sydney Open Under 73kg Young Men’s division and came second in Senior Under 73kg.

This year Daniel competed against the top players in the country in the ACT Open in February and won a Bronze medal. Daniel came the following weekend and fought a strong division in the 2008 Sydney Open where he won Gold – a great effort. Daniel is a member of the Australian National Judo Team and is showing great promise; we can expect more great results from him this year.

Hayley has achieved impressive results in Karate, successfully competing at the international level since 2001. Hayley is a returing Lexcen Scholar. Hayley came first in the 2007 GKR World Champioships in Birmingham and took out the duoble women's Open Female Black belt Kata and Kumite. This is her 3rd successive Senior World Title event. She also came second in Female Open Team Kata.

She competed in the GKR National All Styles National Titles. She also contributed to coaching at the UNSW Karate Club during 2nd semester and is currently running the Karate beginners course for the UNSW Karate Club.

Returning netballs cholar Michelle Calderara is a representative of the Penrith panthers in the NSW State League Division 1. Her team finished 5th in the Waratah Cup and won the 2007 Open Division State Championships in Sutherland, and was awarded Penrith Panthers 2006/2007 Team of the Year.

Michelle has been a great asset for the UNSW Netball Club. Apart from coaching the "Mobies" to the final in the Randwick Association, in 2007 Michelle was a weekly umpire, a lunchtime referee and captain of the UNSW AUG Team which won a Silver medal. Michelle has already been appointed manager for the 2008 AUGs.

Gabrielle King is an outstanding sailor and a new Lexcen scholar for 2008. A member of the NSWIS Sailing Program, Gabrielle has achieved some outstanding results. She was 1st in Girls at the Australian Youth Championships in 2006 and 2007 and last year she came 3rd in the Open Women. Gabrielle was awarded the Australian Development Squad Scholarship and was selected for the Australian Youth Team. In 2007 Gabrille represnted Australia at the ISAF Youth Worlds held in Canada where she won Gold, attaining a World Championship title at only 16 years of age.

In 2006 Gabrielle was awarded the North Coast Academy of Sport Athlete of the Year and in 2007 she was NSW Youth Sailor of the Year. Gabrielle will be eligible to represent Australia again this year to defend her title in the World Youth Championships in Denmark.

Returning scholar Alex Smith has continued to compete for the UNSW first grade team and gained selection into Mascot Vipers Premiere League squad, the highest level of Futsal in NSW.

In 2007 the UNSW WSL squad competed in the second level of competition in NSW and finished 7th in First grade and 3rd in Reserve grade. Alex has competed in both First grade and Reserve grade regularly and is currently the top goal scorer in both.

A member of the Mascot Vipers Indoor Soccer Premiere League squad, Alex’s team won the NBFA Invitation Open and was quarter finalists at the State Titles.

Alex coached and managed the UNSW women’s soccer team which came away with a Gold medal in the East Coast Challenge and a Silver medal at the 2007 AUGs in Div 1 women’ soccer.

Alex was nominated Female Club Captain for 2007 and 2008. She has taken on the role of WSL representative and of squad captain. She has also been involved in managing and organizing club fundraising and social events.

Michael Janov is a new scholar for Soccer. Michael was selected in the UNSW First Grade last year and proved to be an excellent asset for the team, playing 25 games in defence and finished the season as second highest goal scorer with 7 goals. He was awarded "Best and Fairest" for the season. He was also a member of the team that won the Gold Medal for Division 1 at the AUGs at the Gold Coast in 2007.

Michael also represented UNSW at the ECC where they were finalists.

Prior to commencing at UNSW, Michael played for the Pennsylvania State University Soccer Team for two seasons and was winner of the Big Ten Conference Championship in 2005 and placed 10th int he Division I National rankings. Michael was selected in the European International School Sports Tournaments (ISST) All Star Team for 3 years runing in soccer (2003-2005) and for 2 years in baseball (2004-2005).

Luane is a returning Lexcen Scholar. In 2007 Luane has excelled in both competitive pool and open water swimming. Her achievements in cude securing 3rd Place in both the 5km and 10km open water races at the Australian Age Championships in Perth and 2nd place in the State Open 10km swim. Last year Luane won the 800m freestyle and the 200m butterfly. She was 3rd in the 100m butterfly and the 4x50m relay. Luane was then rewarded by selection in the Green and Gold team. At the 2007 Australian short course championships she also won Bronze in the open 1500m.

This year Luane has already had a busy open water season and has won Gold in a number of races including the Cole Classic and Bondi Classic. She was 2nd in the open State 10km swim and 4th in the 5km. She also placed 5th in the National Open 5km.

Luane is Club Captain for the Willoughby Swimming Club and will again be the leading swimmer for the UNSW at this year Australian University Games.

George Tang is a returning scholar this year. In 2007 George represented Australia in the Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi wining a Bronze medal. Geroge was also selected to represent Australia at the World University Games in Bangkok.

At the AUGs George won Gold in the singles and led the team to a Silver medal and was selected in the Green and Gold team.

A member of the Australian National Squad since 2006, George is currently on the Shadow team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics with selection trials coming up in March. This year George has also taken the role of Coaching Director for the UNSW Table Tennis Club.

David Matthews is a talented triathlete and a returing scholar. Over the last couple of years, David ahs been a NSW Institute of Sport Scholarship holder and competed in a number of championships achieving the following results: 16th place at the Tarzo Professional Triathlon in italy, first place in the Thames Aquaton Championships in England, and a Gold at the Australian Ocean Swimming Championships in the 18-24 age group.

As a representative of UNSW, David claimed a Bronze medal at the Australian University Championship in Mooloolaba. In 2007 David represnted Triathlon Australia in some Continental Cup races in Japan. David is currently ranked 2nd in Australia in under 23's and is hoping to qualify for the upcoming World under 23 triathlon championships.

Jeff Skinner has consistently achieved in Volleyball and is a new Lexcen scholar for 2008. During his last years at school, Jeff represented South Sydney West Sports, NSW CHS Sports and School Sport Australia. Jeff’s performance as a talented player and a leader on and off the court was awarded with a National Schools Volleyball Championship Most Valuable Player.

Jeff has been captain of the NSW U17 and U21 Indoor Volleyball teams and represented the NSW Beach Volleyball team in the U17, U19 and U23 men’s teams. His best results include Silver in the 2006 and 2007 Sydney Volleyball “Division 1 Men”, fourth place at the 2006 Australian Junior Beach Volleyball Championships and a Gold in the 2007 East Coast Challenge Indoor Volleyball. Jeff was awarded “Most Valuable Player” for the 2007 Sydney Volleyball League, Division 1 Men.

In 2007 Johnno was selected as the youngest member of the senior Australian Team that competed at the World Championships in Melbourne in March. He was also selected for the World Super League in Berlin, where Australia won a Bronze medal. In July, Johnno captained the Australin U21 team for the Juinor World Championships at Long Beach California and he was the only Australian player selected for the World "All Star Team" following the championships.

Johnno is a returing scholar who was successfully managed to combine overseas travel and competition with maintaining a distinction average in his Arts/Economics double degree. His commitment and dedication were recognised in November last year when Johnno received the prestigiou NSW Institute of Sport Award for Academic Excellent in 2007. Johnno also competes for the West's Magpies in the National League and has contribued his experience at the elite level at UNSW Club training.

Corrie Eames is a first year Scholar in the sport of Waterpolo. At only 18 years of age, Corrie is a member of both the Australian National and State Under 20 team. Corrie is also a member of the Wests National Waterpolo League team which recently won the 2008 National League title.

In August 2006 and July 2007 Corrie toued with the Australian Waterpolo National Youth team through Europe. He has also represented the Australian Schoolboys Team in New Zealand, the United States and Canada.

Corrie had just been selected to tour Europe this August with the National Junior Men's Squad. We are looking forward to seeing more of Corrie's skill and flair in the pool as a key player for UNSW at the Australian University Games.