URN

Although not with the total domination as seen in previous years, the University Swimming Team were able to cement their 100% Varsity record with a 313-182 points victory at the University Pool. Credit must go to Trent for their best haul yet, particularly to the Men who recorded Trent’s first three clear-cut race wins in the event’s history. However, the strength of the Uni team ultimately shone through to score a convincing victory at the end of proceedings, and put the series score at 2-1.

Uni Women’s dominance shone through from the offset, with wins in the Individual Medley and Backstroke events and Alice Morgan taking first place in the later 50m and 100m Butterfly races. Bethan Davis and Emma Oliver were other notable mentions, picking up Uni victories in the Backstroke, while Jasmin Ballingall took first in the opening 100m Individual Medley with a time of 1:13.

The Men were not quite as convincing in the early stages, with Trent taking the Individual Medley and Butterfly races, issuing a real statement to their adversaries. Asked if they thought complacency could have been a factor in Trent’s initial triumphs against the Uni Men, NuSwim President Naomi Reynolds and General Secretary Natalie Steele were quick to play such an idea down.

With the scores poised at 1-1 in this year’s Varsity, Uni fans will be forgiven for their supreme confidence of retaking the series lead after a look at the calendar. Tomorrow at 1pm, Uni will take to the water and look to build on their unbeaten record at Swimming Varsity.

With guidance from veteran coach, Alex Thurston, the Uni team are eager to get into the water and assert their dominance. History suggests this should be a whitewash: Trent’s best finish is a tie for first place in last year’s men’s 100m backstroke. Year on year, Trent have improved, but they still go into the pool tomorrow as huge underdogs.

URN was fortunate enough to catch up with several members of the Uni team at their training session ahead of the big day, and managed to get their predictions for when Uni and Trent lock horns again.

Men’s Captain, Phil Noone:

Backstroke expert, Gerald Michael:

General Secretary and Treasurer, Natalie Steele:

Breaststroke specialist, Alex Diamond:

Make sure you get down to the University Pool ahead of the 1pm start. If you can’t make it, be sure to check out URN’s text updates from poolside throughout the day at urn1350.net: Your Number One Varsity Source

University of Nottingham managed to get their first point for the 2011 Varsity series, as they were convincing winners against Trent, with the final score Uni 379 – 225 Trent.

Historically the event has favoured University of Nottingham, possessing some of the leading British talent in the event both national and across Europe. Competitors such as the Olympic finalist Jess Sylvester and team captain Katie Ambridge are examples of the strength in depth Nottingham has, with both swimmers competing in the European championship qualifiers only a week away.

Uni went off to a flying start, with both the men’s and women winning the 100 Individual medley and respectively coming third place too. This would be the common theme of the afternoon, with Trent unable to win a single race outright. The podiums of each race where dominated by Uni, especially the Men’s 100m breaststroke, women’s 50m butterfly and freestyle.

However, the highlight of the day for Trent was in the 100m backstroke where uni’s Matt smith tied with Diggins from Trent in the most exciting encounter of the afternoon. This event highlighted the improvement of Trends swimming team from previous years and should act as an encouragement for the future. Nonetheless, the Uni domination was still clear to all, as Uni swept the other events.

With the Swimming varsity event soon approaching, here are some of the rules and regulations for those new to the sport:

Swimming is an aquatic sport, in which participants compete to be the fastest over a given distance. The different events at this year’s varsity would be the 50 and 100 meters of each stroke, which are the breast, back and butterfly, the medley relay, 100 IM and freestyle relay.

The breaststroke is performed face down in the water, the arms move synchronously whilst the leg performs a frog kick. The butterfly swimming stroke is swum on the breast, with both arms moving simultaneously. The leg movement is known as the dolphin kick. The feet are pressed together to avoid loss of water-pressure. The feet are naturally pointing downwards, giving downwards thrust which thus moves up the feet and presses down the head. The back stroke is performed with the swimmer lying on its back, synchronising their arm and leg movements with kicks and semi circular arm pushes. The freestyle is where a competitor can use an unregulated swimming movement over a given length. Such strokes often involve the front crawl and side stroke.

The Nottingham University Swimming Club has over 100 members, both competitive and casual swimmers training in the university’s Olympic sized pool. Swimming varsity has only been going for the last three years and both years prior to this, Nottingham University have won the competition. This does not mean that the team this year have been sitting on their laurels; intensive training and many university level competitions have been keeping the swim team on a tip top condition.

The swim teams have been going from strength to strength, with the university team this year being on top form in national competitions as a team and with swimmers who have been at the Olympics and the Commonwealth games. The team has also ascended
in the ranks of the BUCS events, both in short course and long course where Nottingham came 5th overall. With Varsity being the last big event in the swimming schedule, Uni are approaching this competition relaxed but ready to take on the challenge and to gain a win in what has so far been a disappointing start to the 2011 competition for the teams in gold.