Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) lawn bowls team travels to Adelaide next week to defend the national title it won at last year’s Australian University Games. The gold medal follows years of hard work for the team, which earned a place in the increasingly competitive competition’s top tier in 2009. The team won a first division bronze in 2010 and, finally, the long-awaited gold medal last year. CSU Student Support Team Leader Mr Nik Granger said the past 10 years had seen a sharp increase in the standards of competition at the games, which were now Australia’s largest annual multi-sport event. “You’ve got Olympians, Commonwealth Games medallists and various state and national representatives throughout the competition,” he said. “CSU will have students from our Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga competing, as well as several distance education students.” CSU’s Ultimate Frisbee team will compete in division two this year with hopes of securing a gold or silver medal to earn elevation into division one for the 2013 games and the University team will also include individual representatives in cycling and athletics.