With a strong team, and a lot of training under their belts, the Oxford Blues team were very excited, and confident leading up to the 127th Varsity match on Saturday 26th February 2022. A few threats of COVID and some injuries did risk putting the team back, but these adversities were overcome and the Blues Team was looking stronger than ever.

Organised by club President, Felix Gallagher, this year’s Varsity Match was on home soil at the Rosenblatt Pool, Oxford.

After seeing the convincing win by the Second Team, some entertaining alumni relays and a parade around the pool led by the Team Captains, Sophie Lawrence and Max Underwood, the team was ready and excited to get racing underway.

In the first event, the Women’s 200 IM, Connie Dean and Rusha Mondal stepped up to the blocks. A first Varsity Match for both the girls, they both smashed the race, finishing 1st and 3rd respectively, with Connie finishing in a Club and Varsity Record time of 2:18.18. A great start for Oxford. 

Next up were the boys, the legend that is Jonathan Rutter, and Men’s Captain Max Underwood. Similar to the Women’s race, it was another 1,3 for Oxford, with Jonathan finishing in a record time of 1:58.41, and Max Underwood achieving his first Blues Time of the season.

The Women’s 100 backstroke was swum by fresher Charlotte O’Leary, and second year Aggie Burns. A very close race, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively, with Charlotte following in Max’s suit and achieving her first Blues Time of the season.

If the Women’s race was close, the Men’s race was even closer. All 4 men finishing within 0.5 seconds of each other, Jackson Spry nailed his finish to outtouch the two Cambridge swimmers. David Pugh also had a fantastic swim, in a PB time of 58.40. All the crowds were on the edge of their seats, it was a fantastic race to watch.

The Women’s 200 Free was swum by Captain Sophie Lawrence, and Ellie Browne. A 1,2 for the Oxford girls; smashed it.

The Men’s 200 Free was a much closer race swum by the newest recruit to the team, Max Anderson-Loake, who joined the Blues Squad at the end of Michaelmas Term, and Club President Felix Gallagher. Max surprised everyone, with a 6 second PB, absolutely nailing the pacing on his race and swimming a time of 1:51.28 to touch first. 

Spencer Williams and Eva Ponting stepped up in the 100 fly. A very tough race, with Spencer Williams showing no signs of tiredness and just taking first place over Ellie O’Keeffe in a time of 1:02.59 to achieve her first Blues Time of the season. Fresher Eva Ponting also had a great swim in her first ever Varsity Match, finishing in a close 3rd place.

The Men’s 100 Fly was swum by the two Andrews. Andrew Wilson, Tokyo Olympic Gold Medallist, and renowned breastroker, stepped up to the task of swimming a different stroke, and smashed his swim finishing in a time of 55.76. This was no match, however, for the TJ of the squad, Andrew Hong, who showed absolutely no signs of weakness, finishing in a time of 54.05, and taking the win. A great swim from both Andrews, taking home 1st and 2nd place.

After a quick break, the distance girls were up behind the blocks. Captain Sophie Lawrence, and fresher Deryn Cressey-Rodgers, both studying at Lady Margaret Hall were no match for the Cambridge girls. Sophie annihilated the competition, finishing with a 10 second lead over the other swimmers in a time of 4:27.76, a new club and varsity record. Deryn had a close race, just getting out touched Cambridge’s Yoshi Eschen to take third place in a time of 4:37.36, and achieved her first ever Blues Time.

The Men were up. Andrew Hong showed a very strong start, with a small lead over Cambridge’s Jacques Bonsell after 200m. However, the Australian Beast, Max Anderson Loake had yet again paced his race to perfection and chased the two leaders down, to take the lead in the last 25m of the race and take the win in a time of 3:59.22. Andrew Hong finished 3rd in a time of 4:00.33. Perhaps one of the most exciting distance races to watch in a long time!

Connie Dean was back in the pool. This time alongside teammate Zoe Faure Beaulieu in the 100 Breastroke. The two girls absolutely annihilated the competition, finishing nearly 10 seconds ahead of the Cambridge swimmers, with Connie taking the record in a time of 1:12.17, and Zoe finishing close behind in a time of 1:13.58, both achieving more Blues Times. 

Andrew Wilson was back in the pool, this time swimming the event he knows best, the 100 breaststroke. Alongside him was Captain Max Underwood. Unsurprisingly, Andrew won the race very convincingly in a time of 59.31 to take the club record. A much closer race for Max Underwood, but he took 3rd place after being out touched by 0.01 by Cambridge’s Giorgos Papegeorgiou.

The last individual races of the competition, the 100 freestyle. For the women’s team we had Spencer Willaims and Claudia Murray in the pool. Both girls swam sub 60 seconds and Spencer Williams showed yet again no weakness up, having beaten one of the O’Keeffe sisters in the 100 fly she then smashed the other, Sophie O’Keeffe, in the 100 free to take the win in a PB time of 57.91. All that amazing training this season has paid off! Claudia Murray also swam her first blues time of the season, taking 3rd place in a time of 59.61.

The men were up. Oxford’s Jonathan Rutter vs Cambridge’s Theo Cannon. A very close race. Both men swam sub 50s, with Jonathan Rutter nailing his finish to take the win in a time of 49.03. The OUSC Legend Matty Johnson also smashed his race, swimming his first ever Blues Time in a time of 53.11; a long overdue achievement.

Next up were the relays. The Women’s Medley Relay was swam by Charlotte O’Leary on the backstroke, Connie Dean on the breaststroke, Sophie Lawrence on the butterfly, and Spencer Williams anchoring on the freestyle. I wish I could say it was a close race, but the girls smashed Cambridge, winning in a Club and Varsity record time of 4:24.35, nearly 20 seconds ahead of the Cambridge team.

The Men’s race was much the same. Jackson Spry on the backstroke got his first ever Blues Time, Andrew Wilson nailed the breastroke, Andrew Hong’s fly was super speedy and then the freestyle leg was in the hands of Max Anderson Loake, who brought the team home in a club record time of 3:43.61, 20 seconds ahead of Cambridge.

Fortunately for the spectators, the freestyle relays were much more exciting to watch. The women’s race was swum by Luiza Farache Trajano, Chloe Davis, Claudia Murray and Louisa Zolkiewski. The four girls smashed the race, finishing in a club record time of 4:02.22, but were narrowly out touched by the girls from Cambridge.

The Men’s race was led off by the OUSC Veteran Declan Pang. He achieved his first Blues Time of the season, before handing over to Jonathan Rutter. All neck-on-neck by the halfway point, Nick Jones dove into the pool. He smashed his 100m handing over to Matty Johnson on the anchor. The crowds roared and cheered, the Oxford team finished in a time of 3:29.45, just behind the swimmers from Cambridge.

A convincing win for the Oxford team with the overall points being 103 (Oxford) – 77 (Cambridge)  which thrilled the home crowd of spectators. 

An absolutely fantastic result, with 9 Club Records being broken, 24 Blues times, a handful of PBs and all three pieces of silverware back on home soil. Congratulations also must go to Max Anderson Loake for being named the swimmer of the meet. An incredible achievement at his first Varsity Match!

Congratulations also goes to the men’s team who beat Cambridge in a score of 50-40.The Men’s trophy has been long overdue back in Oxford, so this victory over the Cambridge team shows just how hard the Men’s team has worked this year. 

The women’s team also beat Cambridge yet again, in a score of 53-37. Another convincing win against the Cambridge women, our Oxford girls should be so proud.

We obviously could not have done this without the incredible support of our coach, Zichen Liu, Oxford University Sport, our friends and families, and our fabulous event sponsors: Perkier, Up&Go, Knoops, The Missing Bean and The Oxford Wine Company.

Thank you to everyone who came down to the Rosenblatt Pool to watch, and thanks to Cambridge for putting up a great fight; we can’t wait to see you again next year at the Parkside Pools!