Western Sydney University (WSU) has run its inaugural Campus of Origin sports day, which saw teams from across its campuses come together to compete in a variety of sports.
There were six teams that competed in oztag, basketball, volleyball and dodgeball on the day.
There were five teams from the five main campuses; Hawkesbury Highlanders, Kingswood Kings, Campbelltown Crusaders, Parramatta Pirates and Bankstown Bandits, along with the WSU Barbarians, formed with players from various campuses.
The Hawkesbury team was made up of:
- Nicole Morley (captain)
- Marty Wyburn
- Taylor Alcock
- Olivia Dolly
- Lauren Dahl
- Colin Cheong
- Samantha Jackson
- Fergus Ryan
- Cassidy Gepp
- Jarrod Lefevre
- Tissy Elsley
- Lachlan Charlton
- Jim Colores
- Samantha McKechnie
- Jospeh Ma'u.
The day started off rough for the Highlanders who came fifth in oztag unable to get past strong Kingswood and Bankstown sides that dominated the competition.
Hawkesbury did better in the volleyball coming in fourth spot, but lost in the third-versus-fourth place final.
Basketball had a much better outcome for Hawkesbury who lost game one but managed to fight their way back to win the next three matches, putting them into the finals against Kingswood.
The Highlanders came from being down at halftime to defeat the Kings to take out first place.
Dodgeball didn't go as well for the Highlanders, who only managed one win in their final match again taking out fifth spot.
Hawkesbury managed to sneak into the top three for the overall rankings on the day and were awarded with the bronze medal.
WSU social sport assistant and main organiser of the event, Dave Horsley said, "Hawkesbury were probably the underdogs of the whole competition and after a poor finish in oztag, which was the first sport of the day, they hit back with solid performances across the other three sports to come in third."
The championship for the day was between Kingswood and Parramatta.
It looked good for Kingswood as their players Cameron Moss and Meg Creanor received both the male and female MVP trophies, voted on by team captains.
Despite this, the first Campus of Origin Championship went to the Parramatta Pirates. As the winners, the money raised from the after-party's entrance fee will be donated to their charity of choice, the RSPCA.
"Overall [it] was a huge success, we had a few logistical issues which were to be expected from a first year event but the student feedback has been overall extremely positive," Mr Horsley said.