Dubbo's Travis Harte and Lauren Turrell have wowed in their national debut, helping the Western NSW Wanderers to sixth spot at the inaurgural Division Two Australia Mixed Ultimate Championships (AMUC) last month.
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Turrell and Harte both compete in Dubbo Ultimate Frisbee Federation (DUFF)'s weekly Monday night league. They also play on the Dubbo Meerkats representative side, with Turrell debuting for that side just five months ago.
But the October tournament marked the pair's first tilt at a national level competition, and Wanderers selector and co-captain Ashleigh Boatman said the pair stepped up to the challenge.
"Lauren...played exceptionally well,” Boatman said.
“She was often marked up on players who had been playing for years and she has been playing seriously for a few months.
"She played extremely hard for every game and showed great maturity and composure within the team.
“[Travis’] throwing and disc movement was very strong and he added a lot of stability to the team."
Harte’s confidence with the disc was a much-needed asset for the side, which was without a number of its regular players.
Handlers Dan Lumby and Jen Hoar were all ruled out of the 2016 mixed ultimate season due to injury, while Elizabeth LaTrobe didn't play due to family commitments.
But the side was able to secure some high profile replacements in former Ultimate Australia president Jamie Bozza, five-time Australian championships player Heather Bozza and Inland Gypsies coach Michael Craigie - all former students of Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst.
It helped the side to an impressive sixth place in the three-day competition, with some positive results against the tournament heavy-weights.
The quarter-finals saw the Wanderers measure up against Sydney side, and eventual national champions, VLS.
Despite going down 12-6 in that game, Boatman said her side put up a good fight.
“We probably were not quite as mentally prepared as VLS when we began the game and were behind from the start,” she said.
“After we regrouped we traded points for the remainder of the match.
“It was disappointing that we didn't apply ourselves right from the start and allowed VLS to get out to an early lead before then competing evenly with the eventual winners.”
Dubbo’s representative players will now turn their attention to the upcoming women’s and open’s season, with the Inland Gypsies women’s team holding its first training day next month.
