Scholars and Bursars: 2022/23 Round Up

It has been another year of success for our Sports Scholars and Bursars. This year we have supported 30 Sport Scholars, 30 Sport Bursars and 5 Postgraduate Bursars. Our Sport Scholars compete at an International Level in one of our 8 Performance Sports: Cricket, Golf, Hockey, Women’s Lacrosse, Netball, Rugby, Sailing and Tennis. Sports Bursars compete at an international level in any one of our 52 Athletic Union clubs, or at the highest regional level in one of our performance sports. 

To start the year three Sports Scholars in Hockey, Ollie Drummond, Ben Fox and Lewis Wilcher, were selected to represent Great Britain at the Sultan of Johor Cup in October, with the team placing 3^rd overall. Later in the academic year, the Great Britain Elite Development Programme selections for Hockey were announced, and consists of 13 University of Exeter Students; full story available here. In addition to this, Martha Taylor was selected to represent England at a Senior level and to compete in the FIH Pro League, and Millie Holme has continued to represent Wales at a Senior Level.  

Passing the ball into the Netball court, Rachael Fee joined Severn Stars Superleague team, as a training partner however, ended up being a part of the starting seven multiple times throughout the season. Ellie Gabriel and Amaya Herold have both been playing for Team Bath in the U21 Netball Performance League. Not only have they played in the NPL and the Netball Superleague, but these Sports Bursars are also keen players in BUCS matches on Wednesday and Exeter Netball Club matches at the weekend as part of the Premier 2 side, whilst balancing their studies. 

Immediately reaping the benefits of Mike Molster joining the performance sport team as Head of Lacrosse, the women’s 1^st team secured their place in the BUCS Final. The team put up an impressive battle against Nottingham before taking away the silver medal. Throughout term 2, 1^st team and England Senior players attended the Lacrosse Euro sixes in Portugal with two England teams in the final consisting of Sport Scholars: Alice Ripper, Anna Neville, Zoe Lovibond and Zara Russell. 

Driving golf to the top in BUCS, our 8 performance golfers won the Southern Premier League and comfortably won all BUCS matches until falling short in the BUCS national trophy semi-final to St Andrews. Throughout the first two terms, there were two separate Strokeplay tours, the BUCS tour and R&A student tour series. The former is played between the English and Scottish universities in 9 events where the top 20 men, and 10 women earn order of merit points to qualify for the BUCS tour final. This year we had 12 top 10 results in these events, which saw Tom Savill win the men’s event and Georgia Staroscik the women’s event at the Exeter Invitational played at Trevose Golf Club. 

The R&A student tour series takes place at prestigious world-class golf courses creating a high-performance championship environment for all university golfers outside the USA and Mexico. Four qualifying events are played with the top 20 golfers earning order of merit points to play in the selective final. This year the qualifying events were held in Scotland (Montrose Golf Club), France (Le golf National), Portugal (Troia Golf), Spain (Parador Golf) with the final at St Andrews on the Jubilee and old course. Performance athletes represented at all the R&A student tour events in Scotland, Portugal, Spain and St Andrews, with top 20 results in all. 

Out on the water, Matilda Nicholls has moved into her second year competing in major Senior Competitions since moving out of youth fleets. In the Hyeres Olympic Week, Matilda achieved her first major Senior Race win and finished 14^th overall at the end of the week. We’ve loved seeing Matilda progress throughout her time in Exeter. Molly Sacker, also racing in the ILCA 6 has had a great start to the year and is working on building solid foundations in the senior fleet to secure her position in the British Sailing Team. Catrin Williams, Sports Scholar and IQ Foil windsurfer finished the European championship with 10th U21 earlier this year and is now working hard throughout the summer ahead of future competitions. 

On the track, Sport Performance Bursar, Cameron Thores has secured several podium positions in BUCS and for Scotland. Competing in the T47 category of para-athletics, Cameron has achieved 1^st in the Welsh Athletics U20 International Championships, 3^rd at the Welsh Athletics Senior Championships, and 3^rd in the BUCS outdoors 400m. Further BUCS success comes from Sports Performance Bursar, Sylvia Misztal who secured 2 BUCS gold medals in the 500m TT and Women’s Sprint! 

First year student, Sophie Hodge, achieved success in Rifle shooting in the summer before arriving in Exeter, having represented GB U19s and coming 1^st overall in the Guernsey Summer Open. As the season is just getting started for Sophie, we’re looking forward to hearing how she gets on this year ahead of the World Championships in 2024. 

Continuing with success, on the rugby pitch, Exeter Chiefs Women played in the Allianz Premier 15s Final against Gloucester Hartpury, with the team consisting of current Sport Scholars Maisy Allen, Flo Robinson and Katie Buchanan, and Alumni Poppy Leitch and Merryn Doidge. Sport Scholars and Exeter Chiefs players, Nancy McGillivary, Niamh Orchard, Maisy and Katie achieved further selections for the England U20 Red Roses with Nancy, Maisy, and Katie securing a transition contract with Egnland Rugby. This year, men’s rugby players and students: Tom Cairns, Dan John, Will Becconsall and Christ Tshinuza also helped Exeter Chiefs in winning the Premiership Cup. Christ has also represented Wales this year in the Six Nations alongside fellow student Dafydd Jenkins. They both have been regularly training with the Welsh senior side ahead of the 2023 world cup.

All our scholars and bursars are assigned a TASS-accredited athlete lifestyle mentor each year, this is to help them with balancing sport and academics, whilst also preparing for their careers after University. A full list of scholars and bursars can be seen below:

Sports Bursars 

Name	Sport	Represented
Cameron Thores	T47 Sprinter	3rd BUCS Outdoor 400m  5th in BUCS Outdoor 100m.  3rd at the Welsh Athletics Senior & U15 Indoor Championships  1st at the Welsh Athletics U20 International
Sylvia Misztal	Cycling	2 BUCS Gold Medals
Sophie Hodge	Rifle	English Lions Development Squad Represented GB U19’s (1st overall in the Guernsey Summer Open Meeting 2022) Selected for National Rifle Association tour to the Channel Islands in 2023 Training with GB U25’s and GB U21’s for World Championships in 2024
Katie Brookes	Canoe	12th in the World Cup 2023 (Canoe Marathon Racing)
Ben Burghes	American Football	Selected for GB U20s and GB students. Signed a professional contract in the German Football League.
Emily Simon	Touch Rugby	England Womens Open
Pheobe Hughs	Horse Riding	GB U21 European Championships (finished 5th)

To find out more about our sport scholarship programme, please visit our website.

Share