Wycombe District Swimming Club’s ‘Premier Meet’ is scheduled to coincide with the opening of the National Qualifying Window for the 2019 National Championships.
ENTRIES
In the event of the Meet being oversubscribed entries will be accepted on a fastest to slowest basis with age consideration. Entries will close at midnight on 10 February 2019
On Sunday, April 22nd, City of Oxford Swimming Club (COSC) made club history by competing for the second consecutive year in the National Arena League A Final, securing their position as one of the top 10 competitive swimming clubs in the United Kingdom. Competing against such top performance clubs as Millfield, Guildford City, and Plymouth Leander, City of Oxfordsecured a 6thplace finish. The five clubs finishing in front of Oxford have regular training access to long course swimming pools which gave them a significant advantage in the final which took place in Cardiff’s international long course 50m pool.
Armed with horns, flags, face paint and bull mascots COSC’s Raging Bullswere ready to show that they came to fight in this arena of top UK club’s swimming talent.
Out of the 50 races, COSC secured 11 top 3 places. The first win came from Illazane Pinfoldin the Girls13/u 100m breaststroke event;a great result coming almost immediately after she helped her team mates, Lara Mills, Evie McClean and Gretel Goodgame,secure 2nd place in the Girls 13/u 4x50m Medley.The same team went on to secure 3rd place later in the afternoon in the 4x50m freestyle event.
Oxford’s other top three place finishes came from veteran David Murphywinning the Men’s open 100m breaststroke; Nick Skelton (Boys15/u backstroke)andKayden Sillah (Boys 11/u 50m br/stroke)whoboth just missed first place by a finger tip touch. The strength of Oxford’s breast strokers at the moment was further demonstrated by Billy Wooton(2nd in the Boys 15/u br/stroke); Morgan Smith‘stealing’ 6 places and finishing 3rd (predicted 9th) in the Boys 13/u 100m br/stroke and Emily Wooddelivering a surprise third place in the Ladies Open 100n br/stroke. Female veteran Kate Millsturned the tables again in the Ladies 100m fly with a 3rd place (predicted 7th) and Evie McClean, refusing to be kept out of the top three, stole two places (predicted 5th) in the Girl’s 15/u 100m freestyle adding some valuable points for City of Oxford.
As the results show, every COSC swimmer participating in the National Arena League final gave their all, as every point counted, and as a result Oxford bettered their expected finish position in 26 of the 50 races.
Nationally, over 350 clubs take part in the National Arena League; being a part of the top 10 clubs to qualify for the National A final and achieving a 6thplace finish is a huge credit to the club’s depth of swimming talent (from the youngest 11/u to the senior swimmers), strength of our coaching team, and passion and support of our parents and volunteers.
Recognition also goes to the coaches Amanda Booth, Fabian Whitbread and Zichen Liu for their hard work in enabling this significant achievement.
As with any National level competition, the difference between coming in first and last comes down to a few points (or milliseconds). Plymouth Leander came back this year to win comfortably with 427 points pushing Guildford City (2016 winners) in to 2nd place with 344 points and last year’s winners, Millfield, finishing 3rd (318 points).
City of Oxford ‘A and B Teams’ both competed in the third and final round of the south east regional Milton Keynes Junior League for swimmers aged 9 to 12, on the evening of Saturday 9 September 2017.
Competition was fierce for City of Oxford ‘A Team’ as they travelled to Guildford, having qualified for the final cut of the top six swimming clubs in the south east region.
Guildford Swimming Club stole the show but Oxford swimmers performed well with 27 Personal Best times and some great relay performances coming straight after the summer break. Pearl Sophistaphong played a key role winning both her individual races in the girls U10 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle. Her team mate Zara Porter claimed two well deserved 2nd places in the U10 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly. Oxford’s other 2nd places went to Zofia Conway (U9 25m breaststroke). Rosie Hilton-Dew (U12 50m breaststroke) and finally Kayden Sillah U11, who swam an amazing 50m freestyle race just missing out on first place by a finger tip touch.
The ‘A Team’ were awarded a finalist cup on the evening to recognise their achievement and add to the trophy cabinet. All the swimmers gave their best and there was great support from Oxford Coaches, Team Managers and Parents.
City of Oxford ‘B Team’ meanwhile, hosted five other teams at home at Leys Pools and Leisure Centre. Drawn against Chesham, Newport Pagnel, Brompton, St Ives and Bicester Bluefins, Oxford ‘B Team’ put in some strong performances to bag a fifth place team finish.
The first individual win of the evening came in the boys 12-year-old 50m freestyle with Joseph Watkiss taking first place. Later on in the evening Joseph also cruised to victory winning the 12 year-old boys 50m backstroke. Ellen Bagley put in a first-class performance in the girls 12 year-old breaststroke, looking very strong from the outset she had an excellent swim taking first place. This was followed by another decisive victory for Thomas Johnson in the boys 11-year-old 50m breaststroke. The team’s fifth first place of the evening came in an exciting performance from the boys 9 year-old medley relay team (Edward Vennis, Dylan Palmer-Weight, Deniz Kocak and Samuel McDouall Saw).
Other notable and second place finishes came from the boys 9 year-old freestyle relay team (Dylan Palmer-Weight, Deniz Kocak, Edward Vennis and Samuel McDouall Saw), Erin Bannerman in the 9 year-old girls 25m freestyle, Ellen Bagley in the girls 12 year-old 50m butterfly, Neretva Spengler in the 9 year-old girls 25m breaststroke, Ella Joyce in the 11 year-old girls 50m freestyle, Sophie Litchfield in the girls 9 year-old 25m butterfly, Liva Barlow-Olsen in the girls 12 year-old 50m backstroke and finally the boys 11 year-old medley relay team (David Feng, Thomas Johnson, Arsham Abyaneh and Harry Jones) and the boys 12 year-old freestyle relay team (Joseph Watkiss, Thomas Sherwood, William Healey and Alfie Bone).
There were some great performances and excellent skills demonstrated from all of the team – well done to everyone!
This past weekend, June 24th & 25tt, City of Oxford Swimming Club sent 36 of their top swimmers to Hatfield to compete in a pool known for fast swimming and came home with 34 medals and many personal bests achieved.
With finals organised into two categories – 13 and under or 14 and over, this meet proved a great venue for our younger swimmers to gain valuable experience in swimming both heats and finals in the same day. Many of our younger boys, such as Morgan Smith, Artur Marton and Jamie Conway made three or more finals in one session and brought home bronze medals (see full list below). For 13-year-old Jack Rudd, Hatfield gave him the opportunity to swim his first final ever – in 100 back!
City of Oxford’s female swimmers also shone, with sisters Libby and Lucy Gotta both winning bronze medals – Libby in the 13 and under 100 back and Lucy in the 14 and over 400IM. Thirteen year old Illizane Pinfold brought home an amazing three golds (50 free, 100 breast, 200 breast) and one silver (100 free). Fifteen year old Emily Ford also won four medals – winning gold in 50 fly and 200 back and silver in 100 fly and 50 back.
COSC’s swimmer of the meet has to be 13 year old Gretel Goodgame who not only made finals in all of her seven events but almost achieved a clean sweep in medals – bringing home 5 golds and 1 silver.
Congratulations to all our swimmers for a weekend of excellent racing! Special thanks to our coaches, Amanda and Kyle and our volunteer officials, Karen Underwood, Andy Gilchrist, Deb Smit, Sharon Motha, Jean-Baptiste Bolcato and Jo Wilby and our team managers, Suze Skelton, Tex Smit and Claire Gilchrist.
Details of all the medals are below:
13 & Under
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Gold
– Gretel GOODGAME (13) 400 Free, 50 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Free, 200 Back
– Illizane PINFOLD (13) 50 Free, 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Silver
– Gretel GOODGAME (13) 200 IM
– Illizane PINFOLD (13) 100 Free
Bronze
– Morgan SMITH (13) 100 Back
– Libby GOTTA (13) 100 Back
– Artur MARTON (13) 50 Fly, 50 Back
– Jamie Conway (13) 200 Breast
14 & over
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Gold
– Emily FORD (15) 50 Fly, 200 Back
– Georgina BUTLER (16) 50 Breast
– Callum SMART (17) 50 Breast, 100 Breast
– Maia LITTLE (17) 100 Breast, 200 Breast
– Chris WOOD (18) 100 IM
– Mimi MORLEY ISZATT (14) 50 Back
– Arnold MARTON (16) 200 Breast
– Lewis GILCHRIST (17) 200 Back
Silver
– Megan SMIT (14) 400 Free
– Daniel JENKINS (16) 100 Back, 200 Free, 50 Back, 200 Back
– Callum SMART (17) 200IM
– Maia LITTLE (17) 50 Breast,
– Arnold MARTON (16) 50 Breast
– Lucy GOTTA (17) 200 Fly
– Chris WOOD (18) 100 Breast, 400 IM
– Emily FORD (15) 100 Fly, 50 Back
– Natasha FENTON (15) 200 Breast, 400IM
– Freddie WILKINSON (16) 200 Breast
Bronze
– Tiana PORTER (15) 50 Fly
– Natasha FENTON (15) 50 Breast
– Dorothy GOODGAME (16) 200 Fly
– Arnold MARTON (16) 100 Breast
– Luke WILBY (17) 200 Back
– Lucy GOTTA (17) 400 IM
– Lewis GILCHRIST (17) 400 IM
COSC Press Report _ Hatfield