The Sports Centre is home to a whole host of Lancaster’s finest sports teams; whether it be racket sports like badminton and squash or team sports like basketball, there are plenty of matches that don’t fear falling victim to the perilous climate of the north. Another set of teams that reside within the walls of the Sports Centre that prefer the warm – but not dry – indoors are the University’s resident Water Polo and Swimming teams.
Lancaster’s Water Polo team may be occasionally recognised around campus and town sporting little else than their Speedos, but on-field performances this season have been good and should encourage fellow students to sit up and take note.
Lancaster’s Water Polo Men’s Firsts have been in good form and find themselves finishing the season second place in the Northern 2A BUCS Water Polo league, behind an excellent Manchester Met side. Lancaster finish on 16 points, four points ahead of third placed Manchester Met’s Cheshire team. Despite Chester being unable to field a team in either of their fixtures, Lancaster have had some eye catching results elsewhere, such as their comfortable 7-3 and 8-2 Victories over the University of Liverpool. With the league season now over, Lancaster now turn their attentions to the cup and an away trip to Newcastle University, before beginning preparation for the big one: Roses.
The University’s women’s team have also seen similar successes in the league season, also finishing second in the Northern 2A BUCS Water Polo league. It was goal difference that proved pivotal for Lancaster as they pipped Manchester to second place despite finishing on the same number of points. Like the in the men’s competition, Lancaster now turn their attentions the BUCS Northern Conference Cup and more specifically an away tie against the Manchester side who they narrowly edged in the league. Roses preparation will also be firmly on the minds of the team as they aim to exact revenge against big rivals York who won all six of their games in the league this season.
Even more impressive has been the form of Lancaster’s swimming team, who competed in the BUCS swimming competition at the weekend of Week 6. A highly successful competition from Lancaster’s swimming team saw two teams make their respective finals: the men’s medley relay and men’s freestyle relay teams. Both finals were reached by a team of Jim Patterson, Elliot Bloor, Tom Pope and Andrew Weston, whilst the freestyle relay team also included Jonathan Prince.
Lancaster swimmer Jim Patterson spoke to SCAN: “It was a brilliant performance from everyone involved, we’re extremely happy with how it all went and it’s probably the team’s strongest BUCS performance for a long time”.
Patterson also revealed how throughout the competition the team managed to break a huge 17 university records and has meant they come back to Lancaster with a massive amount of confidence. One record to be broken was that of the Women’s relay, with fantastic performances from Eleanor Cantwell, Lydia Jamieson, Sophie Jones and Emma Lishman during their swims. With Roses now to prepare for, Patterson stated that the confidence gained during BUCS would be used going forward into May, and would ensure that Lancaster had every chance of beating the White Rose and securing bragging rights for another year.
