Swimming Club makes waves

The BUCS Swimming Championship saw over 100 entrants compete at the Ponds Swimming Centre in Sheffield from 22 – 24 February in one of the biggest university swimming events of the year.

Men’s captain Ilya Skliarov led the team by example finishing an exceptional fifth of 120 in the men’s 50m freestyle with a time of 23.85, before going on to finish 15^th and 19^th in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle events respectively.

The relay teams also put in an impressive performance. The ladies 400m freestyle team (Pheobe Weaver, Rachel Vaughan, Adele Marsullo and Laura Froshaug) and 400m medley team (Christine Howie, Rachel Vaughan, Adele Marsullo and Laura Froshaug) both finished 9^th in their events with times of 4.28.63 and 5.10.47 respectively. Both men’s 400m freestyle and medley relay teams also finished a respectable 26^th in their events.

Team Captain Ilya was pleased with the team’s current performance. He said "This is one of the best results we have produced as a club and the high positions that we have finished at is a reflection on how we're moving forward as a club, producing better results in individual and team races. An excellent achievement for everyone all round and all our finalists should be proud of being some of the fastest student athletes in the country, even with the competition getting faster year on year, we are still one of the teams out there."  

The Swimming Club’s annual Varsity, which took place on Saturday 9 March, was also a huge success. Swimmers from the University of Southampton, Bath and Portsmouth travelled to Exeter for an afternoon gala which saw the University of Exeter A team defend their title. The home team took the top spot, finishing eight points clear of second place Bath, who in-turn finished just one point ahead of Southampton.

The event raised £550 for Penny Brohn Cancer Care charity. Club president Rachel Laurence commended the club saying: ““The amount of money raised is a testament to everyone’s efforts in the planning and smooth running of Varsity, I am very proud of the hard work that was put in to make it such a great success”.