It was the turn of the younger Oxford swimmers, age 12 and under, to represent the city in the first round of the Milton Keynes Junior League on Saturday 3rd June. Despite its name, this annual gala serves to bring together teams from all over the area to compete in ‘A’ and ‘B’ leagues for the regional junior team title.

The Oxford A team were at home hosting the first round and were drawn against Maxwell, Chalfont, Teddington, Windsor and Wantage.

The 12 year-old girls (Megan Peake, Ellen Bagley, Willa Merttens and Lily Brabbin) threw down the gauntlet by winning their medley relay – the first event of the night. The 11 year-old boys (Ethan Bird, Kayden Sillah, Lachlan Middleton and Mathew Critchley) continued the winning streak finishing first in  both the freestyle and medley relays. The first half relay race successes were completed with the 10year-old girls (Pearl Sophastienphong, Zara Porter, Emma Sherwood and Bella Green) over taking the opposition in a nail-biting last ‘leg’ to touch in first place.

After 26 events, the Oxford team had amassed 96 points and were in 3rd place behind Windsor, with Teddington in the lead. Some good personal best times from a number of swimmers in the individual races helped the score line and included Pearl Sophastienphong’s double firsts in the 10 year old girl’s 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle. Lachlan Middleton followed for the boys taking first place in the 11 year-old 50m butterfly.

The Oxford A team showed its strength in breaststroke with both Ellen Bagley and Ollie Conway winning decisively in the 12 year-old girls and boys 50m races; and again in the 11 year-old boys individual race, Kayden Sillah swam strongly to seize first place. Completing the individual wins, Zara Porter put clear blue water between her and the opposition in the 50m butterfly.

After the final canon relay Oxford A had notched up a total of 11 first places – more than any team apart from the winners, Teddington. The higher number of second places by Windsor resulted in Oxford A being squeezed into third place with 195 points – missing out on second place in this round by just one point.

With more rounds to go over the next few months this was the start of what is clearly going to be an exciting contest. All the Oxford junior swimmers acquitted themselves well – this was great teamwork for parents, coaches and officials too who all pulled together and worked hard to ensure that City of Oxford’s hosting of this competition went like clockwork.

Special thanks to Fiona Hilton for co-ordinating the event.

Photo Caption: Monty Salmon, Edward Bewes, Brendon McGlynn, Barnaby Turner and Jude Prichard enjoying the Development Meet at Leys Pool

Swimmers from the City of Oxford Swimming Club were joined at Leys Pool on Sunday 23^rd April by swimmers from Abingdon Vale, Didcot Barramundi, 4 Shires, Wantage and Witney    for a fun evening of competition in the sixth Development Meet of the season.  Participants competed against other young swimmers: some were swimming competitively for the first time whilst others were trying to improve on their own previous performances.

There was an electric atmosphere as swimmers achieved a plethora of personal best times and spurred on their fellow club mates.  ‘Emoji-themed’ prizes were awarded for heat winners as well as to swimmers who showed great improvement throughout the field.  Personal goals were met at all levels of the competition with many of Oxford’s swimmers hitting the top spot.  First placed male swimmers included Barnaby Turner (pictured with some of his friends) who was the fastest 9 year old in the 100m breaststroke.  As well as enjoying the competitive side of the day he said that it is a great time to “make new friends”. 

Other Oxford boys who achieved first place in their age categories included 10 year old Matthew Critchley who was first in both the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke, 11 year old Kayden Sillah in 200m free and 100m breaststroke and Logan Bryan in the 13 year old 50m backstroke and 100m breaststroke.  Andrew Taylor and Stan Prichard were also first past the post in the 12 year old and 13 year old 200m freestyle events.  Christopher Skelton took first in the 11 year old backstroke as well as second spot in the gruelling 200m fly behind Oliver Conway.

The Oxford girls also shone with fast times and exciting competition in all events.  First place swimmers included Tilly Boyns and Rosie Hilton-Dew in the 10 and 12 year old 200m backstroke events, Zara Porter in the 100m fly, Zofia Conway in the 8 year old 50m breaststroke and Ellen Tranter in the 50m breaststroke for 12 year olds.   In the 100m freestyle events Eleni Ioannou (9), Olivia Watkiss (13) and Hannah Austen (14) all reached the top place for their age.  Ellen Bagley achieved the triple being the fastest 11 year old in the 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 50m fly, whilst Pearl Sophastienphong was the fastest 9 year old in the 50m fly, 100m fly and 50m breaststroke.

Thanks, as always, go to the coaches and volunteers who enabled the event to run smoothly.  Credit should also be given to all our swimmers, and those from other clubs, who not only rejoiced in their own victories but also celebrated, encouraged and cheered on others, resulting in a highly enjoyable and successful evening.

Full results available on the COSC website.

Pictured above: Emily Wood, Emily Ford, Maia Little, Tash Fenton, Connor Bryan, Callum Smart, Toby Mackay-Champion and David Murphy

The British Swimming Championships is the highlight of the national events calendar. As British Swimming enters a new Olympic cycle, athletes who shone at Rio 2016 took to the pool again for the title of British Champion, as well as there being a new focus on the next generation of athletes to rise to the challenge.

City of Oxford Swimming Club had eight qualifiers competing at this year’s event which took place from April 18-23rd at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield. Emily Wood, Emily Ford, Maia Little, Tash Fenton, Connor Bryan, Callum Smart, Toby Mackay-Champion and David Murphy competed across 17 events, 16 breaststroke and 1 butterfly! The whole event was live streamed and viewers / supporters watched the Oxford swimmers racing alongside Adam Peaty MBE, Ross Murdoch and a host of established and up and coming swimmers.

City competed over four of the six days, with the morning heats allowing swimmers to qualify for one of three finals; the junior final for boys 18 years and under and girls 17 years and under; the Target Tokyo final for males born 1996-1998 and females born 1997-1999; and the open final for the eight fastest swimmers overall.

Day one saw outstanding success for David Murphy, Connor Bryan and Callum Smart in the 100m breaststroke, with all three qualifying for the evening finals session. The junior final saw Smart finish in first place with a personal best (pb) time of 1.03.01 and Bryan finishing seventh in another personal best time of 1.04.19 (within 1% of the Welsh consideration time for the Commonwealth Youth Games). Murphy made it into his first major open final alongside Olympic champion Adam Peaty of Loughborough University. Seeded eighth in the final, Murphy had an amazing swim and finished seventh in a time of 1.02.00.

Both the girls and boys of the City of Oxford were in the pool on day two of the championships, with Maia Little, Tash Fenton and Emily Wood competing n the 200m breaststroke, Emily Ford in the 50m butterfly and Connor Bryan and David Murphy in the 50m breaststroke. The heats saw a PB for Bryan with a time of 30.28 and Target Tokyo finals for Wood and Murphy who both finished second with times of 2.32.04 and 28.64 respectively. Little, Fenton and Ford put in strong heat swims with times of 2.42.57, 2.39.89 and 29.27.

The boys’ 200m breaststroke was the event for day four of the championships. City’s Connor Bryan, Callum Smart, Toby Mackay-Champion and David Murphy pushed hard through the heats and all four qualified either for the Junior or Target Tokyo finals. Mackay-Champion won the Target Tokyo final with a PB time of 2.15.93, closely followed by Murphy in third position in a time of 2.16.30. The Junior final saw Smart finishing a close second in new British 16 Age Group record / South East Regional record time of 2.16.02. Bryan finished fourth also in a personal best time of 2.17.79 (Inside the Welsh Consideration Time for the Commonwealth Youth Games). Both Bryan and Smart’s performances will result in International selection. We are waiting to find out what team English, Welsh, British they will be selected for.

Back in action on the final day of the championships were the girls Maia Little, Tash Fenton and Emily Wood in the 100m breaststroke. No finals for the final day, but Wood recorded a time of 1.13.09 and finishing with identical times in the heats were Little and Fenton in 1.14.40.

Not to be outdone by our swimmers, our parents and supporters were putting everything into making sure City of Oxford were recognised amongst the crowd. They were even referenced during live commentary as being amongst the loudest supporters at the championships.

2017 has clearly been a successful year for the City of Oxford Swimming Club at the British Championships and Head Coach Amanda Booth sums this up, saying.. “Following David Murphy’s success in being selected for Britain, Connor Bryan and Callum Smart are following in their teammate’s footsteps putting two more Oxford breaststrokers in the frame for British selection this year or the near future”.