Record breakers

Written by Jocelyn Betts

Sheffield hosted the annual event, bringing together the best of British university talent for three days of gruelling competition.

After less than one term under the management of a new committee, the national event was a tough venture for York’s up and coming team. However, our swimmers rose to the challenge and despite questions of fitness, several club records were broken.

Of particular note were performances by the men’s captain Steven Knight, who swam an impressive 27.41 seconds in the 50m fly, beating his own previous record of 27.87 seconds. He went on to shave a further 0.09 seconds off the 100 metre fly record.

These swims set the tone for the men’s relay events, where Mark Pietkiewitz, Paul Cox, Steven Knight and Ian Smithson combined their talents to smash the 4 x 50m freestyle relay club record by 3 seconds! Pietkiewitz continued his strong form to take the 100m freestyle club record also. With the help of Tom Mcglashan, Knights, Cox and Smithson completed a successful weekend with a record in the men’s 4x50m Medley relay.

The girl’s team saw great potential in the form of newcomers Jess Smith, Fliss Hannon and Vivian Li, who look set to develop into a formidable Roses team. Carmel Parry had a great weekend, providing a standard we have come to expect from the freestyler, in spite of a shoulder injury. Katie Paxton set a personal best in the 100m fly and Jo Betts missed the 50m freestyle club record by less than 0.4 of a second. Ruth Salmon must be mentioned for her commitment, competing despite being a very poorly president!

It was a great start to the season, and if the training and commitment of the swimmers continues, we can expect even more success in 2008.

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