Eleven Waikato University students have been awarded New Zealand Universities Blues awards for the 2011 academic year.
The awards were made across a range of sporting disciplines: Amanda Brown, Oliver Leydon-Davis (badminton), Hannah Croad (beach volleyball), Nikki Whitehead (canoe/kayaking), Anjali Thakker (ice hockey, inline hockey), Laura Langman (netball), Nathan Cohenand Duncan Grant (rowing), Andrew Newton (surf lifesaving), Renee Hannah (water skiing) and Katrina De Lange (yachting) are among 67 student athletes receiving the award.
Thakker is one of only two recipients of two Blues.
Nathan Cohen, Duncan Grant and Laura Langman were among the seven finalists in the sportsperson of the year category, which was won by Massey University student Hamish Bond (rowing).
The New Zealand Blues award, based on the traditional Blue of Oxford and Cambridge, is awarded to students who have achieved excellence on and off the field.
Presented since the first university competition in 1919, it is a reflection of the standard of New Zealand sportsmanship that a large number of successful New Zealanders have received this award.
University of Waikato recipients will be awarded their national Blue at the Wallace Corporation Waikato University Blues awards DInner on October 12.
