City of Oxford Swimming Club competed against some of the top swimming clubs in England in the National Arena League South, Premier Division Final held in Crawley on Saturday 12th December. 16-year old Emily Nisbet demonstrated City’s determination in the gala’s opening event, the Women’s Open 200m Individual Medley. Despite going into the event ranked fifth, Nisbet finished a close second in 2.19.79. Fabian Whitbread continued City’s strong start with second in the Men’s Open 200m IM in 2.03.22. The individual performance of the night went to David Murphy in the Men’s Open 100m breaststroke, taking first place in 59.67, the fastest time ever by a 17 year old in England. Further first place finishes went to Emily Ford in the girl’s 13/u 100m backstroke (1.06.80) and 100m butterfly (1.05.61), Natasha Fenton in the girl’s 13/u 100m breaststroke (1.13.01), Callum Smart in the boy’s 15/u 100m breaststroke (1.05.19), the ladies open 4 x 50m medley relay, and the girls’ 13/u 4 x 50m medley and freestyle relays. City’s gutsy team performance saw them equal last year’s 3rd Place finish overall, narrowly missing out on a top two place and automatic qualification for the country-wide National Arena A and B finals. City now face a tense wait to see if they will gain qualification for the National Final as one of the best placed teams in the virtual gala.
The final results saw Guildford City take the title with 240 points from Thanet (198), Oxford (176), Wycombe District (161), Sevenoaks (140) and Beckenham (134).
