April 5, 2025

Blues Varsity Match Report 2025

On Saturday 1st March, 26 Oxford Blues Swimmers arrived at Parkside Pools Cambridge ready for their annual face off with the Tabs in the pool. Following a year of strong fresher recruitment, successful competitions in BUSL and BUCS and a big training load on Lanzarote camp, Captains Charlotte and Sam were feeling confident in the team they had built to perform on the big day. The first part of the afternoon was spent watching the 2s swim to glory in their match, dropping very few points along the way and inspiring the blues swimmers to match the high standards set. Soon after, Sam and Charlotte were leading out the team onto poolside and after the traditional rendition of the national anthem and a quick team huddle, the racing began.

The event kicked off as always with the Women’s 200 IM which saw IM specialist Nani Jackson and new recruit from the 2s Orrin Blair both swim season’s bests in the event to bring home the first 3 points for Oxford. Next up was the Men’s 200 IM where two new star-spangled freshers stepped up to the block for Oxford. Cole Mason put in a great swim to finish 2nd, however an unfortunate goggle mishap leading to a misjudged turn for Jonathan Dye meant his strong swim was disqualified. Then was the Women’s 100 Back which saw Women’s Captain Charlotte O’Leary competing in this event for the fourth consecutive year however with a different teammate than the previous three years as Fresher Sophie Govan made her Varsity debut. The two girls demolished Cambridge to score the first 1-2 of many with Charlotte only a few tenths off her OUSC and Varsity record and Sophie right on her best from this year. Next up was the men’s version of the event which saw backstroke veteran Jackson Spry up with backstroke novice James Smith. However you would never know James was fairly new to backstroke given he swam a massive blues time as did Jackson to get another 1-2 finish for Oxford, while Cambridge struggled to finish in the right lane.

Next was the 200 Free which saw Sophie Lawrence in her sixth consecutive Varsity, after taking a break from this event to try some fly last year, return in storming fashion to secure the win and Fresher Madelyn Letendre following suit in second place and both girls getting Blues Times. The men’s 200 free was one of the most competitive and fast races of the competition, as it was two of Oxford’s biggest dogs Jonathan Rutter and Max Anderson Loake up against a very fast new Cambridge recruit. Jonathan Rutter stormed away from the field in a huge club and Varsity record for the win, while Max engaged in a very close battle for second and in the last few metres of the race he overtook his opponent to claim a huge second place. The final event before the break was the 100 Fly where for Oxford Nani Jackson was back in the water with Milo Holland. Nani secured a huge win with another season’s best despite the quick turnaround, however Milo who was still recovering from a double knee surgery less than six months prior had an unfortunate accident and broke their knee again mid race, but still managed to complete the whole thing – a huge showing of determination that sums up the kind of strong person they are. In the men’s race Louis McAuliffe made his varsity debut with Ioan Cressey-Rodgers. The boys swam very well to get two blues times a 2-3 finish for Oxford.

In a very quick turnaround from their first race, the distance free girls Sophie and Madelyn were back on the blocks for the 400 which saw another Cambridge demolition and Oxford 1-2, and a second blues time for Sophie Lawrence. In the Men’s 400 we had Cole back for more after his 200 IM and this year’s TJ aka Joshua Robinson making his Varsity debut. The boys swam great races to finish in a 2-3 with TJ getting his Blues Time! Nearing the end of the individual events, the penultimate was the 100 breast where the women saw another OUSC veteran Zoe Faure Beaulieu in contrast with Annie Oakes making her first Varsity appearance. Both girls put in great swims to get another 3 points on the board for Oxford. Next up was Men’s Vice Captain Jacob Hudson back for revenge after being robbed of his Blues Time last year due to illness, along with Jonathan Rutter after 3 years of being forced to swim the 100 Free instead was finally allowed to do breaststroke. Both boys made the most of their swims to finish in an emphatic 1-2 and Jake achieving his first Blues Time. The final individual saw the Women’s Vice Captain Molly Aspinall with Charlotte O’Leary in the water for the 100 Free. Charlotte won the race comfortably while Molly paced her race to perfection to out touch both of the Cambridge girls and secure second place and blues time.

Going into the relays, Oxford had a 16 point lead but as everyone knows, anything can happen. The women’s 4×100 medley relay had a very strong line up of Sophie G, Zoe, Nani and Ellie Browne who all put in great performances against a stacked Cambridge team, however a slight mishap from Fresher Sophie meant a false start got the whole team disqualified. Luckily, we had three more stacked relays to come, starting with the men’s 4×100 medley where Jackson, Jonathan R, James and another fresher Harry Manship brought home an emphatic win. The final women’s event was the 4×100 freestyle relay which saw Caterina Vanelli Coralli and Chloe Davis combine with Charlotte and Sophie L for a huge Cambridge defeat. In the final and always exciting event, the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay saw Max Anderson Loake leading off for Kamran Din, Josh and Louis to bring home the final win and 7 points for Oxford. With 3 relay wins in the bag, the Oxford win was secured along with the Women’s trophy, the Men’s trophy, the Overall trophy and the Swimmer of the Meet trophy awarded to Jonathan Rutter for his stellar efforts in his races. The final scores were 98-77 overall, 46-41 for the women and 52-36 for the men. In total 17 blues times were swum

We would like to extend a huge thank you to the Cambridge president, captains and other committee members for hosting Varsity, as well as to all the alumni, family and friends who came to watch – we owe a lot to your support. Special thank yous must also go to the captains Samual Nicholls and Charlotte O’Leary along with the team coach Zichen Liu for ensuring another dark blue victory this year along with president Declan Pang for his tremendous club efforts throughout the year. We’ll see you next year back at the Rosenblatt!

Full list of results

List of Full Blues