Having won the Varsity match for the first time since 1999 last year, this match was either an opportunity for Oxford to begin a period of dominance in the pool or for Cambridge to cancel out last year’s loss. The Oxford team arrived at the Parkside Pools in a buoyant mood having already beaten the Tabs in BUCS competition earlier in the year, making the national final and seeing Cambridge relegated to division 2. However, the opposition produced a strong performance and the closest and fastest match in over 20 years followed, eventually leading to a dramatic Oxford victory.
In the Varsity swimming match there are seven individual events with each team entering two swimmers, as well as two relay events with one team entered in each. Oxford started strongly in the women’s 200m Individual medley with Alex Holderness finishing first and Rozz Bray third to take an early lead. In the men’s individual medley Will Alle decimated Cambridge, but a harsh disqualification of Osband allowed the Tabs to reduce the deficit. Two impressive swims in the female backstroke from Cambridge led to them taking the lead at 16-13. The Oxford backstroke boys however, swam strongly to finish second and third behind Tom Rootsey, a Cambridge fresher who posted the fastest ever time by a swimmer from either university.
The women’s 200m free drew Oxford back to onto level terms with a Dark Blue one-two from fresher Ann Hyams and girls captain Clare Kane, with Kane storming through in the second half of the race to touch out the tab. The men’s 200m was an incredibly exciting race with Oxford record holder Richard Hildick-Smith ahead at half way, but another impressive Cambridge fresher, Andy Corley, had too much in the second half of the race and Oxford finished in second and third. The times being swum by both teams however were remarkable, as the third placed time in that race would have won Varsity in eight out of the last ten encounters. Cambridge took a small lead in the women’s 100m butterfly finishing first and third, but Jack Marriott and theOxford Team junior Kouji Urata swam a powerful butterfly race to smash the tabs into third and fourth place and give Oxford a 41-38 lead at the interval.
The next race was the 400m freestyle, a new event for the women in this year’s Varsity match, and saw an impressive swim from captain Kane to post a new Oxford record time of 4.41.14, just behind the Cambridge swimmer. Varsity veteran Louisa Jurkiewicz came from behind at the half way mark however, finishing third to secure some vital points for Oxford. The men’s 400m followed with two very impressive Cambridge swims taking first and second and seeing Andy Corley smash the Cambridge University record in 4.01.54, with the second place time of teammate Rootsey also inside the winning time of four of the last five Varsity matches.
The next event was the 100m breaststroke, traditionally dominated by Cambridge and saw no upsets with them taking first and third in the women’s and first and fourth in the men’s. The women’s 100m freestyle saw another very impressive swim from ex-Wales international Alex Holderness to take first place, with the tabs in second and third. The men’s however saw ex-Cambridge swimming captain, now Oxford PhD student Tom Close swim 52.18, obliterating both the Oxford and Cambridge records, with Will Allen-Mersh taking second for the dark blues. With the individual races finished the overall score was 70-69 to Oxford, meaning two out of four relay wins would seal them victory.
The first relay was the women’s 4x50m medley for which Cambridge were strong favourites and managed to put clear water between them and the Oxford team, much to the delight of the home crowd. The men’s 4x100m medley relay however was set to be much closer with Oxford having won the butterfly and freestyle individuals but Cambridge the backstroke and breaststroke. The backstroke leg saw Rootsey take a strong lead for the light blues, however ex-blues rower James Soane swam a powerful breaststroke leg to claw back Cambridge captain Ho-on To despite being pipped by him in the individual.
At the half way point Oxford were down by two seconds when fresher Jack Marriott dived in. He motored down the first 50m to undo the Cambridge lead and just gave Oxford 1st place as current 50m freestyle record holder Varun Divgikar began his leg. He swam a rapid first 50m as was expected to maintain the lead however, unfortunately for the dark blues, the endurance of Corley came through for the tabs on the last 25m to take the race. Oxford however posted a time of 3.58.98, shattering the old record by over 3 seconds and inside the previous Cambridge record. Losing the two medley relays meant
Oxford had to win both of the remaining two races to take the trophy.
Although the crowd may have doubted the visitors, the Oxford swimmers clearly had the self belief required. The women’s 4x50m freestyle relay saw Rozz Bray dive in and swim a fast leg just behind the opposition, allowing Ann Hyams to overhaul her opponent in the second leg. After taking the lead, they never looked back. With the whole team pushing her on, Jurkiewicz maintained the lead before Holderness put clear water between herself and her opponent to win the race.
With their hopes still alive, the Oxford men showed their class in their freestyle relay, with four emphatic swims destroying the Cambridge team by over 8 seconds and finishing inside the Cambridge record. Ironically it was ex-tab Close who touched the pad at the end of the gala, signifying the transfer of power in Varsity swimming. The final score was 90-89 to Oxford, with the dark blues also winning the men’s trophy 46-43 and Cambridge taking the women’s 46-44. Being the first Oxford team to win in Cambridge in over 10 years clearly meant a lot to the team, and the celebrations started in earnest. Looking at the depth of talent in this team, the future looks promising for Oxford’s swimmers.
