Saints Swimming made waves with impressive performances in BUCS short-course competition
In a triumphant end to the short-course season, the Saints Swimming team, consisting of 21 swimmers, dove into three days of intense competition and made history at the annual BUCS short-course competition in Sheffield.
The weekend kicked off with a splash as numerous swimmers achieved season and personal bests. Rowan Saunders, a second-year astrophysics student, and Ben Read, a final-year PhD student in Biochemistry, smashed two club records on Friday in the 100m IM, setting the tone for the team’s outstanding achievements.
Heading into day two the team were highly seeded and hoping to make finals. Saturday morning saw the men’s 4x50m freestyle relay break yet another club record, propelling them into the A Final alongside nine other top universities in Britain, many of which had high performance and international athletes competing in this relay. This marked a historic moment for the club, having never reached an A Final for a relay or individual event before.
The excitement continued with five more club records broken on Saturday, showcasing the incredible talent within the team. These records include Liza Hill, third-year Environmental Earth Science student, in 50m Breaststroke; Lewis Heasley, fourth-year management student, in 50m Backstroke; James Portier, fifth-year Mathematics student, in 50m Freestyle; Rowan Saunders in the 50m backstroke; and the Women’s 4x50m Freestyle team consisting of Liza Hill, Rowan Saunders, Clara McAllister and Adele McDaid.
The team, fuelled by a day of great racing, eagerly anticipated the Men’s team in the final. Despite starting in an outside lane, the Men’s team had the race of their lives, securing a commendable 9th place overall and improving on their heats time. The team, comprised of Ben Read, James Portier, Lewis Heasley, and Naoki Martin (third-year Biology and Economics student).
Day three brought fatigue but also excitement for the remaining races. Both the Men’s and Women’s medley teams raced for coveted spots in the finals. A Saints head-to-head in the 100m free resulted in a win for James Portier, but first-year Russian language student, Harry Wait, stole the spotlight by breaking a club record and outpacing the competition. Harry caught the attention of the commentator who noted, “Harry Wait, will wait for no one!”
Rowan Saunders continued her record-breaking streak in the 100m Backstroke and 200m IM. The Women’s medley team narrowly missed the B finals but still managed to smash another club record.
The Men’s team secured a place in the B final, concluding the relay as the last swim of the meet and marking Ben Read’s final race for the swimming club after eight and a half years. The relay comprised of Lewis Heasley, Ben Read, second year management student, Jake Bednarski and James Portier. They improved on their heats time to achieve yet another club record and placed 19th out of 72 teams.
The weekend was a success for the whole team and saw a total of 12 club records being broken as well as the most BUCS points earned by the swimming club. The team hopes to carry this momentum into the long-course season next semester.