Loughborough Breaks 5 Of 7 BUCS Records On Final Night

2018 BUCS LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• British Universities & Colleges Sport Championships (LCM)
• Friday, February 16th – Sunday, February 18th
• Ponds Forge, Sheffield
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

Another 7 meet records fell by the wayside on day 3 of the 2018 British Universities & Colleges Sport Long Course Championships in Sheffield, with 5 of them falling courtesy of Loughborough University. As such, the Leicestershire-based school wound up on top of the team rankings to claim yet another title, winning the overall trophy with 395 points total.

Below are the top 5 teams overall:

1. Loughborough – 395
2. Edinburgh – 269
3. Bath – 231
4. Stirling – 223
5. Northumbria – 133

Commonwealth Games-bound James Wilby completed his trifecta of breaststroke wins, saving the best for last with his sub-minute 100m race last night. Entering the meet, the 24-year-old Strenshall native’s personal best stood at the 1:00.05 he clocked at the 2016 British National Championships.

But Wilby found another gear tonight to touch the wall in a swift 59.61, easily surpassing the previous BUCS Record of 1:01.22 held by 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Ross Murdoch since 2015. For Wilby’s effort, the Brit now takes the position as 3rd fastest in the world this season.

Two-time silver medalist from the Rio Olympic Games, Duncan Scott, was also on point on night 3, winning the men’s 200m IM event in a time of 2:00.89. Although Scott has been under the 2-minute barrier on at least 2 occasions in the past, his outing tonight produced a solid in-season swim and one that was swift enough to establish a new BUCS Record. The old mark was held by Liam Tancock, with his 2:01.08 from 2008.

Stirling teammate Kathleen Dawson followed up on her 50m back victory from last night with a gold in the 100m distance tonight. Stopping the clock at 1:00.96, Dawson beat the field by almost a second, with Edinburgh’s Kathryn Greenslade representing the next fastest swimmer at 1:01.93.

Loughborough women went 1-2 in the 50m butterfly sprint, with Marie Wattel and Charlotte Atkinson touching in marks of 26.36 and 27.30, respectively. For Wattel, the 20-year-old earned a new BUCS Record, overtaking Rachael Kelly’s old standard of 26.68 that’s been on the books since 2015.

Wattel made more noise in the women’s 100m freestyle, where her winning time of 54.33 took down the longest standing BUCS Record still holding on. Earning a winning time of 54.33, Wattel dipped under the 55-second barrier for just the 3rd time of her career and was only .06 shy of her 54.27 career fastest.

Her time of 54.33 from tonight crushed the long-standing BUCS Record of 55.20 from 2004, held by none other than Mel Marshall, now Adam Peaty’s coach.

The additional 2 BUCS Records that bit the dust included the women’s 200m IM, courtesy of Abbie Wood and the men’s 4x100m medley relay, courtesy of Loughborough. For Wood’s part, her 2:13.84 took down Hannah Miley’s old standard of 2:14.64 from 2012, while the relay men surpassed their own record of 3:42.25 from 2012. Tonight they earned a winning time of 3:38.35.