Loughborough Lands BUCS Short Course Title Amid Record Onslaught

2017 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, November 10th – Sunday, November 12th
• Ponds Forge, Sheffield
• SCM
• Meet Central
• Entry Lists
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Live Results

Loughborough had a notable lead in the overall team point standings heading into today, the final session of the 2017 British Universities and Colleges Short Course Championships, and they delivered on their depth. However, key players across the squads did their part to shake things up, resulting in several meet records and one national record getting eradicated before all was done and dusted in Sheffield.

According to the total team point standings available as of 3:32pm local on Sunday, November 12th, the following list displays the top 5 finishing teams overall:

1. Loughborough – 367
2. Stirling – 269
3. Edinburgh – 236
4. Bath – 203
5. Sheffield Hallum – 126

Key Highlights

British national record holder Jocelyn Ulyett already lit up Ponds Forge last night with her BUCS Record-setting win in the women’s 200m breaststroke. Tonight the Loughborough standout was at it again, crushing a new BUCS Record in the 100m distance. Clocking 1:06.04, Ulyett held off a charging Corrie Scott of Edinburgh, who holds the Scottish National Record in 1:06.06. Tonight, Scott settled for silver in 1:06.72 in the two-woman showdown.

Loughborough also saw its fly ace Charlotte Atkinson kiss a BUCS Record goodbye tonight, stopping the clock in a wicked-fast 2:05.51 in the women’s 200m butterfly. That obliterates her own gold medal-winning mark of 2:08.09 from last year and set the Isle of Man athlete apart from tonight’s field by over 3 sold seconds. Runner-up in the event tonight was Plymouth’s Laura Stephens, who notched an effort of 2:08.66.

Although Atkinson’s mark tonight was well off the British national record of 2:03.19 held by Jemma Lowe from 2012, the World Championships competitor now checks-in as the 3rd fastest British female swimmer ever in the 200m fly event.

While no records fell in the men’s version of the grueling fly race, a battle ensued between Olympian Duncan Scott of the University of Stirling and Joe Litchfield of Sheffield Hallum. The two-man duel came down to the wall touch, as Scott wound up on top in 1:56.32 to Litchfield’s 1:56.40.

Scott holds the Scottish National Record in a time of 1:54.59, but for Litchfield, his performance tonight checks-in as his personal best. The 19-year-old’s previous career-fastest sat at the 1:57.02 from 2016’s Ontario Junior International, so this evening’s outing represents the first time he’s stopped the clock under the 1:57 barrier.

Litchfield was able to get his gold tonight in the men’s 200m IM event, however, notching a winning time of 1:56.98. Last year he fell runner-up to elder brother and Olympic finalist Max Litchfield, but this time around Joe fired off a quick 1:56.98 to add gold to his haul of gold from yesterday’s 100m fly and silvers in the 200m free and 200m fly.

Lucy Hope 0f Edinburgh stunned the crowd by denying Bath’s Anna Hopkin a 2nd consecutive ‘sprint queen’ title. Last year Hopkin took both the 50m and 100m freestyle titles and already nabbed the splash n’ dash gold last night in both the freestyle and backstroke. Hope had other plans, however, as the athlete crushed a mark of 53.39 to establish a new BUCS Record and Scottish National Record for her efforts.

Hope’s mark tonight overtook the old Scottish NR of 53.75 set by Alison Sheppard way back in 2003, thus wiping a 14-year-old record off the books. She now inserts herself among the top 10 fastest British women in the short course 100m freestyle event of all-time.

The University of Arkansas-bound Hopkin earned silver tonight notching a solid effort of 53.85 to add to her double gold from last night. Yesterday’s two-time BUCS Record breaker Kathryn Greenslade of Edinburgh tied Plymouth’s Jessica Jackson for bronze tonight, each wrangling up a time of 54.60.

Additional Winners on Day 3:

• David Cumberlidge doubled up on his 50m freestyle win from last night with a gold in the 100m distance. He clocked a time of 48.38 to top the podium.
• University of Stirling’s Craig Benson edged out teammate Zak Aitchison in the men’s 100m breaststroke, touching in 59.35 to Aitchison’s 59.58. The pair ruled the breaststroke events in Sheffield, with Benson taking the 200m distance and Aitchison rocking the gold in the 50m race.
• Abbie Wood led a 1-2 Loughborough punch in the women’s 200m IM, clocking 2:10.33. Beth Aitchison, sister of the aforementioned Zak, was runner-up in 2:12.64.
• The women’s 50m butterfly race saw Emily Crane take the win in 26.56, while Southhamption’s Cristian Rotunda earned the top prize for the men in 24.09.
• Kathleen Dawson of the University of Stirling took her 2nd consecutive 100m backstroke title, winning in 57.86. Tonight’s 100m freestyle victor, Lucy Hope, was runner-up in the back, taking silver in 58.15.
• It was a Loughborough battle in the men’s 100m back, with Dan Cross edging out teammate Luke Greenbank by just .10 of a second. Cross scored a time of 51.87 over Greenbank’s 51.97.
• Finally in the men’s and women’s 200m medley relays, Loughborough took the women’s title in a new BUCS Record of 1:49.08, while Stirling clinched the men’s edition in 1:36.61.