City of Oxford Swimming Club successfully defended their position as top club in Oxfordshire & North Bucks by winning the County Championship for a fourth successive year. City finished the championships with a massive 2616 points with City of Milton Keynes in second on 1512.5 and Maxwell third on 951 points. City also retained the top junior club award for the 10-13 years age groups for the fifth consecutive year with 832 points with Maxwell in second on 464 and City of Milton Keynes in third on 377.5.
Over the course of the County Championships City’s swimmers took 17 Open County Championship and 17 Junior County Championship titles. In the Open championship there were also 16 silver and 18 bronze medals and in the Junior Championship 14 silvers and 20 bronzes. In the Age group events Oxford’s swimmers amassed an amazing 82 gold medals, 86 silver medals and 49 bronzes, together with countless personal bests.
The final weekend of competition saw 16 year old Emily Nisbet win the Women’s Open County Championship title in the 100m Individual Medley posting a time of 1.05.39 from lane 1 in heat 1 that was not bettered in the subsequent heats. Teammate Eleanor McNally took bronze in 1.05.97. Delphine Little (13yrs), one of the youngest qualifiers for the event, took bronze in the Junior County Championship in 1.10.62. Nisbet added a second County Championship gold in the 200m Butterfly in 2.18.32 and also took silvers in the Women’s Open 200m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly. Teammate Kate Mills secured Championship gold in the 100m Butterfly in 1.02.69 and silver in the 200m butterfly in 2.22.31. Lucy Gotta took silver in the Junior 200m butterfly with Little taking another bronze. In the Women’s Open 50m freestyle McNally proved to be the fastest woman in the County taking gold in a speedy 26.69. Emily Wood was dominant in the breaststroke by completing a hat trick of titles adding 2 more Golds to her 100m title from the previous weekend in the Women’s Open 50m (33.14) and 200m Breaststroke (2.30.38) events. Maia Little took silver and bronze in the open 200m and 50m breaststroke respectively with her times securing gold in both Junior County Championships. Natasha Fenton took silver in the Junior 50m breaststroke and Weiyi Tan took bronze in the Junior 200m breaststroke. Annie Sharp won silver in the Junior 100m backstroke.
In the Men’s Open 200m Individual Medley David Murphy took the Open County Championship in 2.07.76 with teammate Luke Thomas in second on 2.08.24. Connor Bryan took bronze in the Junior County Championship. Murphy rounded off a very successful championship, adding a fifth title to his overall haul, with gold in the 100m breaststroke Open Championship in a new County record time of 59.51, the only sub 1 minute time in the event. Bryan took gold in the Junior event and silver in the Open Championship with a time of 1.04.91. Ewan Springett took two golds in the Junior 50m butterfly in 27.32 and 100m freestyle in 53.37 and added a further bronze in the Junior 50m backstroke with teammate Luke Wilby taking silver. In the Junior 200m backstroke Lewis Gilchrist took silver.
In the relay events Oxford dominated proceedings with the Oxford A team of Springett, Bryan, Wilby and Daniel Jenkins taking gold in the Boy’s Junior 4 x 50m freestyle in 1.42.05. Oxford’s B team of Gilchrist, Gabriel Agostini, Chris Motha and Ewan McBain taking bronze in 1.46.21. City’s girls mirrored the boys’ success in the Junior 4 x 50m medley relay with the Oxford A team of Sharp, Little, Emily Ford and Olivia Webster taking gold in 1.59.71 and setting a new Junior County Record in the process. City’s B team of Delphine Little, Natasha Fenton, Tiana Porter and Emilia Chen took bronze in 2.06.19. In the Men’s Open 4 x 50m freestyle the Oxford team of Murphy, Springett, Thomas and Christopher Wood took bronze in 1.38.74. In the final event of the competition, the Women’s Open 4 x 50m medley relay, the Oxford A team of Shannon Motha, Wood, Mills and Millington took gold in 1.56.47 with the Oxford B team of McNally, Little, Nisbet and Amy Coombs taking bronze in 1.59.49.
In the age group competition Daniel Jenkins, 15 years, added 3 gold medals in the 200m individual medley, 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke and 2 silvers in the 200m backstroke and 100m freestyle to round off a very successful Championships and take his overall county tally to a whopping 10 gold medals and 2 silvers. 13 year old Nicholas Skelton secured gold in all 5 of his events at the weekend taking his overall medal tally to 8 golds and 4 silvers. Evie Mclean, 12, took golds in 50m free and 100m butterfly and silvers in the 200m freestyle and 200m & 50m breaststroke making her overall county tally 6 golds, 4 silvers and 1 bronze. Teammate Gretel Goodgame took golds in the 200m butterfly and 200m freestyle with Freddie Cooke adding to his medal haul with gold in the 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley.