Nine outstanding USC student athletes have shared in $62,000 in scholarships to help them achieve both academic and sporting goals at the same time.

The scholarships, presented by USC during Orientation Week as part of its annual High Performance Student Athlete (HPSA) program launch, included the coveted June Canavan Para-athlete Sport Scholarship worth $20,000.

This award went to Queensland champion para-athlete Kyra Domrow, who is studying a Bachelor of Social Work while concentrating on the disciplines of discus and shotput.

Two USC Sports Scholarships, worth $6,000 each, went to Animal Ecology student Jake Packard, whose achievements in swimming last year included a Commonwealth Games gold medal, and to cyclist Matthew Rice who has started a degree in Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies.

Horse rider Jordan Jolly received the new $5,000 Nambour RSL Club Elite Athlete Scholarship to support her ambitions in equestrian while she saddles up for a combined degree in Education and Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies.

USC also awarded $5,000 SportSmart Scholarships to five recent school leavers as part of the ceremony to recognise their high achievements in study and in sport.

They went to Medical Science student Elliot Hunt (cross country and athletics), Clinical Exercise Physiology students Keely Coutts (athletics) and Zack Gilmore (cycling), Health Science student Alexandria Perkins (swimming) and Occupational Therapy student Luca Holland (surf lifesaving).

USC’s HPSA program, which began in 2017, has so far supported more than 150 students. Athletes currently involved in the scheme compete in 29 different sports and are enrolled across 50 different study programs.

USC’s Director of High Performance Sport Professor Brendan Burkett said the HPSA program was firmly based on the belief that “better people make better athletes”.

He said this belief was also evident in the success of USC-based elite teams of Sunshine Coast Lightning (netball), USC Spartans (swimming) and Pro Racing Sunshine Coast (cycling), which were all national champion clubs in 2018.