Judo gold highlights JCU’s Nationals haul
A gold medal in men’s judo from Odysseas Kolovisteas and a stunning cycling haul has helped guide James Cook University to a record seven medals at the recent UniSport Nationals on the Gold Coast.
A first-place finish in 100kg+ category saw Kolovisteas claim a prestigious gold medal, while JCU’s cycling team accounted for five medals overall.
Caitlin Corset took home bronze in the time trial, criterium and road race and teammate Thomas Beddome, JCU’s current sportsperson of the year for his incredible efforts at the 2024 Nationals, claimed a bronze in the road race and silver in the criterium.
JCU’s cycling team also finished third in the overall standings and took home a bronze medal in division two men’s volleyball, for a total of six medals in division one and one in division two, edging the 2024 team’s six-medal haul.
JCU sent a team of just under 100 athletes to the annual competition, which pitted the University’s best against 41 other universities and over 6000 participants across 32 different sports from September 27 to October 3.
JCU Acting Sport & Recreation Manager Vincent Gardiner paid tribute to not only the medal winners but all the student athletes involved as they represented the University with distinction on the national stage.
“Overall, we’re so proud of all teams that represented and showed extreme pride and grit in representing JCU, which included 15 teams across 12 sports,” he said.
“Our medal winners did JCU proud and we also had some other great results with our lawn bowls team playing well all week before a tough loss in the bronze medal match saw them finish in 4th place.
“Our Rugby 7s women showed extreme grit and determination with only seven players for the competition and had to go down to just five for two games due to injuries. That was a huge effort to get through all games and they also got a win as well.
Gardiner said JCU sent their first ever tennis and Rugby League 9s teams, with both competing well and taking a couple wins they hope to build upon and develop into next year.
“Our men’s Beach Volleyball pairs team Benson Emery and Gabe Gerry performed very well and finished in 6th place, they were eliminated in the quarter finals by the team that took first place,” he said.
“Some of the teams that made it further our guys had beaten already but just luck of the draw there meant they came up against the strongest team in an elimination game, which was a very close match.”