Water Polo
Mens
Reached semi finals 09/10
Womens
Silver medal in Trophy Final 09/10
Swimming - BUCS Championships
BUCS Short Course 13/11/09
Alumni funded Olympic Scholar, Rachel Haigh, was the star of the show as she produced a personal best time to take the Gold Medal in the Women's 50m Freestyle event. Haigh also took the Silver Medal in the Women's 50m and 100m Butterfly events. Both events were unbelievably close, as she was touched out in the 50m event by just 0.07 seconds and by 0.04 seconds in the 100m.
The Women's 4 x 50 Freestyle Team of Lucy Nell, Greta McLachlan, Katy Lockey and Rachel Haigh firmly established themselves as one of the stronger institutions as they finished 5 th in the final. The Women's 4 x 50 Medley Team (Katy Lockey, Nicola Mackay, Greta McLachlan and Rachel Haigh) also reached the final and finished 8 th in what was an extremely tough event.
City of Leeds Swimming Club 's Christopher Wilkinson, who is also a University Scholar, contributed to the team's success when he scored points in the 800m, 400m and 200m Freestyle events. Great performances by Greta McLachlan, who reached the final of the Women's 50m Butterfly event and Lucy Recchia, who also scored points in the Women's 800m Freestyle, added to the team's achievements. The Men's 4 x 50 Freestyle Team (Mark Hodgson, Adam Patterson, Martyn Bermingham and Chris Wilkinson) reached the ‘B' Final; however Mark Hodgson was unfortunately taken ill and had to be replaced by Henry Hickling in the final who stepped up to the mark to see the team finish 20 th overall.
University of Leeds Swim Team were named ‘Most Improved Team' as they jumped from being ranked 35th in 2008 to 10th in 2009. 56 points were scored at this year's short course championships. This is a 53 point increase from last year.
University of Leeds Head Swimming Coach, James Richards, was obviously delighted "this is an excellent achievement and forms sound foundations for the opening of the new swimming pool in May 2010".
BUCS Long Course Championships
FRIDAY 13TH – SUNDAY 15TH FEBRUARY ‘09
The University of Leeds was represented by 22 swimmers at the BUCS Long Course Championships which took place in Sheffield on Friday 13th – Sunday 15th February ’09.
Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee made their first appearance of the season in the 1500m and 800m Freestyle events. Jonathan performed well to finish in 10th place overall in the 800m freestyle and pick up the first of the 16 points won by the team during this competition. Ali Brownlee was unlucky to finish 11th overall in the 1500m event.
The Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Team had an eventful heat, which saw them finish 16th overall; which meant they qualified for the ‘B’ Final in 6th place. The Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Team followed suit when they finished 20th overall in the heats to go through to the ‘B’ Final in 10th place. Both ‘B’ Finals saw the University of Leeds teams finish in 5th place – an excellent effort as both teams achieved faster times in the finals.
Gretta McLachlan made the first final of the competition when she finished 10th in the heats of the 100m butterfly event in a time of 1:09.31. McLachlan later lowered this time in the final when she finished 10th again in a time of 1:09.16. In the men’s 100m butterfly event, Mark Hodgson was so close finishing under the 60 second barrier, as he finished 19th.
Girl’s Captain Hannah Stockley led the way in the women’s 200m backstroke as she finished 14th in a time of 2:48.83. In the men’s 200m backstroke, Henry Hickling broke into the top 20 with a time of 2:29.24.
It wasn’t long before Gretta McLachlan was back in action as she took to the water in the women’s 50m freestyle. McLachlan finished 8th in the heats in a time of 28.10. McLachlan secured the 3 points when she finished 8th overall.
The Women’s 4x100m Medley Team qualified for the ‘B’ Final after finishing 15th in the heats to beat local rivals Leeds Metropolitan University. The Men’s team also qualified for the ‘B’ Final as they finished 18th in the heats.
The final day of the competition kicked off with Mark Hodgson recording a top 20 finish as he finished 16th in a time of 2:20.93. Lucy Nell just missed out on a top 20 finish as she finished 21st in the womens 200m Individual Medley event.
Gretta McLachlan rounded off her exceptional performances when she qualified for her 3rd final in the womens 50m butterfly event in 5th place with a time of 30:00. McLachlan further lowered her time in the final when she finished 6th place with a time of 29.73 to secure the 5 points. Mark Hodgson put in a great performance in the mens 50m fly event to finish 15th in a time of 27.30.
Charlotte Linfoot also recorded a top 20 finish in the womens 400m freestyle event in which she finished 16th in a time of 5:04.93.
The Long Course Championships saw the University of Leeds increase their BUCS points from 3 points to 19 points. The 16 point increase is a testament to the hard work that has been undertaken by the swim team over the past 3 months. Confidence remains sky high as the University look to secure promotion to Division 1 this weekend.
James Richards
Coach
BUCS Team Championships - 30/11/08
12 students represented the university during the BUCS Team Championships Regional Qualifying Round, at the University of Nottingham on 30th November 2008.
The University of Leeds performed exceptionally well to finish 3rd overall with 188 points, to qualify for the National final. The University of Nottingham finished in 1st place with 251 points and Coventry finished 2nd with 239 points.
The star of the show this time was Martyn Bermingham who finished 1st in the 200m freestyle event. Other swimmers to finish within the top 3 were Charlotte Linfoot (100m & 200m freestyle); Hannah Stockley (50m & 100m backstroke); Gretta Mclachlan (50m butterfly); Mark Hodgson (50m butterfly). Both the male and female 4 x 50m Freestyle Team relays put in a good performance, with the females finishing 2nd and the males finishing 3rd.
There is a good chance we could gain promotion into Division 1, but it’s going to be a tough job to maintain our position in 3rd place! The University of Birmingham finished just 3 points behind us, and no doubt they will be looking to strengthen their team for next time.
Let’s make sure we get a good block of training in from now until the long course championships in February and then the National Team Championship Finals in March.
Final Results:
1st – Nottingham 251pts
2nd – Coventry 239pts
3rd – LEEDS 188pts
4th – Birmingham 185pts
5th – Liverpool JM 162pts
6th – Nottingham Trent 156pts
7th – Manchester 147pts
8th – UCLAN 97pts
9th – Lancaster 66pts
10th – Keele 53pts
Please see below for a copy of the results sheets...
Thanks to James for the results.
| bucs_team_champs_results.doc |
| final_copy_-_north_results_spreadsheet1.xls |
BUCS Short Course -20/11/08
Twenty-three swimmers represented the University of Leeds during the BUCS Short Course National Championships which were held at Ponds Forge International Pool, Sheffield earlier this month.
With 10 top 20 finishes came a handful of seasonal best times. The Mens 200m Freestyle Team of Martyn Bermingham, Alistair Marks, Steve Kirkup and Mark Hodgson broke into the B Final after a superb performance in the heats, to finish 8th. The star of the show however was Gretta Mclachlan who qualified in 7th place for the final of the Womens 50m Butterfly event, finishing 8th overall.
** Full results can be found here**