As the 2016/2017 season comes to a close, City of Oxford Swimming Club’s Level 3 Meet held at Leys Pool over 14-16th July 2017, was the finale for many swimmers while for others it was a warm-up for the forthcoming National Championships.

Thirteen clubs took part, as swimmers from all over Oxfordshire, neighbouring counties, and some as far away as Cardiff, came together for some hard and fast racing!

Well done to all the Oxford swimmers who achieved personal bests and met their individual goals at the meet. The team performed superbly across all age categories to take the top places: numerous medals and plenty of speeding tickets (issued when a competitor has had such a good swim they exceed the upper qualifying time and are ‘too fast for gold’).

Particular congratulations go to Oxford’s Safiya Sillah (age 13) for winning the ‘top female’ award with a fabulous eight 1^st places in her age group (in 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m IM) and 2nd place in 50m backstroke. Safiya said:

“This was a great meet and it came at a really good time of the year. We have been training hard all season and it was good to finish the year with some stiff competition from teams like Cardiff and Amersham.  The Level 3 was a good warm up for Nationals. Being top girl is a real boost of confidence for me.”

One of Oxford’s youngest swimmers taking part, nine year-old Eleni Ioannou, took four 1^st places, two 2^nd places and one 3rd place. Ten year-old Juliet Anthony won three 1^st places, three 2^nd places and two 3rd places. In the 11 year-old age group the top spots were largely divided between Lily Brabbin with seven 1^st places and two 2^nd places and Ellen Bagley with five 1^st places and three 2^nd places. For the 13 year-olds Lara Mills took two 1st places, three 2^nd places and one 3^rd place, while in the 14 year-old category Zoe Coombs won four 1^st places, one 2nd place and one 3^rd place. In the 16 years open category Kate Mills (age 18) came 1st in six races and 2^nd  in her only other event.

The ‘top male’ award went to City of Cardiff Swimmer 12 year-old Maxwell Anderson. Hot on his heels was Oxford’s 12 year-old Christopher Skelton (pictured) who bagged four 1st places (for 100m and 200m backstroke, 400m and 200m freestyle), three 2nd places (for 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke) and two 3^rd places (for 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle). Christopher said:

“It was another fun weekend with all my friends. I listened hard to the advice that the coaches had given me and focused hard on each race – even my weaker breaststroke!! I was really pleased with my performances and that my hard work paid off. A great way to end the season.”

For the Oxford boys, prominent on the results sheets were Kayden Sillah (age 11) with two 1^st places, three 2^nd places and one 3^rd place and Charles Pauling (age 13) with one 1^st place and three 2^nd places. The Cooke brothers impressed in their age groups with 13 year-old Freddie Cooke taking four 1st places and one 2nd place, while 14 year-old Theo Cooke took two 1^st places, one 2nd place and four 3rd places. James Austen (age 17) won six 2^nd places and two 3^rd places in the open age category.

A big thank you to the coaches for all their work, not to mention the officials and volunteers for giving up their time and helping the meet run so smoothly. Full results will be available on the COSC website.