BUCS Teams 2024
BUCS Teams marks a highlight of the swimming calendar, a great opportunity to wear the Oxford cap with pride and represent the club on the big stage. Unfortunately, this year the BUCS organisers were fearful of the wrath that a full OUSC team could bring, so decided to schedule the event on the same weekend as Oxford collections (undergraduate exams). We therefore had a reduced team of ten swimmers make the journey up to Sheffield on April 20th, 2024, to take on a massive program of racing.
The heats were very tough, matched up against some powerhouse unis like Loughborough (with 3 teams), Stirling, and Birmingham. The Women’s side consisted of seasoned veterans Sophie Lawrence and Caterina Vanelli Coralli, joined by BUCS rookies Isabel Valovin and Nicole Farmer. With just 4 swimmers required to complete 17 swims (in the heats alone), their endurance showed as they put in some huge performances. The Open/Men’s side consisted of new Captain Samual Nicholls, joined by Declan Pang, Kamran Din, Ioan Cressey-Rodgers, Max Anderson Loake, and David Pugh. Highlights from the heats included PB’s in the 50m Back from David (28.05) and 50m Breast from Kamran (sub 30 in the relay).
Despite the serious competition, the team kept spirits high through the heats and qualified for the Championship A Final in the afternoon! After a pep talk from Sam, they returned with renewed energy on a mission to take down some of the other unis in the outside lanes. Results from the finals included 6th places from Ioan in the 100 Fly, Sophie in the 200 Free, and Caterina in the 50 Fly; 7th from Max in the 200 Free, Kamran in the 50 Breast and 100 IM, Sophie in the 100 Fly, Ioan in the 50 Fly, and David, Declan, Ioan and Sam in the Medley Relay; 8th from Max and Sophie in the 100 Free, Caterina in the 100 Back and 100 IM, David in the 100 Back, Dec in the 100 Breast, and Declan, Max, Kamran and Sam in the Freestyle Relay. Caterina also scored a PB in the first leg of the 4 x 50 Free relay, with a 27.94. Across the day, we also had a number of Blues times swum, with Max in the 100 Free (52.53) and 200 Free (1:54.40), Kamran in the 100IM (58.82), Ioan in the 50 Fly (25.83), and Sophie in the 200 Free (2:09.78).
Overall, the team finished in a fantastic 9th place. Given that the event falls outside our main season and we were missing many notable swimmers to exams, this is an absolutely whopping effort. A big shoutout must also be made to Isabel and Nicole, who stepped for their first BUCS and put in some tremendous swims. Thanks also to our legendary timekeeper Brandon! A huge congrats to all the team!
