BRITISH UNIVERSITIES LONG COURSE 13TH -15TH FEBRUARY 2009 Loughborough University retained their Men’s, Women’s & Overall Team trophies at the recent British Universities Long Course Championships held in Ponds Forge Sheffield. Amongst the 24 Gold Medal winning performances were new British University records from Liam Tancock 50m Free 22.83, Amy Smith 50m Free 26.05, Caitlin McClatchey 400m free 4:11.04 and Sophie Casson 1500m free 16:47.59. Liam Tancock also received the Top Male Performance of the Meet Award. Olympians, Cailtin McClatchey, Melanie Nocher and Liam Tancock all completed golden hat tricks; Caitlin taking the 200m/400m/800m freestyles, Melanie the 50m/100m/200m backstrokes and Liam the 50m/100m Back and 50m freestyle. Sophie Casson took the 1500m freestyle and helped secure a Loughborough 1-2 by taking silver in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke. Jade Barclay took gold in the 200m butterfly with teammate Kirsty Armstrong placing 2nd; both swimmers were also on the podium in the 100m butterfly with Jade taking silver and Kirsty bronze. Erin Jeffery looked impressive as she struck gold in the 400m IM ( 4:54.40) and backed up McClatchey in the 800m freestyle with silver and lifetime best of 8:57.86. Sprint specialist Amy Smith was on superb for with gold in the 50m free and silver in the 100m free ( 56.14). Kate Hutchinson and Emma White secured gold & silver in the 200m breaststroke with Emma also making the podium in the 50m & 100m breaststroke events. Euan Dale demonstrated his versatility with a winning swim in the 200m individual medley ( 2:04.03) after taking silver in the 200m freestyle ( 1:51.23) Joe Roebuck overcame illness to take the 200m butterfly & 400m individual medley titles whilst Daniel Fogg swam a well paced race to lift the 1500m freestyle title. Matt Bowe earned a well deserved victory in the 100m butterfly with an impressive 53.89 Loughborough completed a clean sweep in the Men’s & Women’s Freestyle & Medley relays; the men’s freestyle relay swimming inside the previous British Club Team record. The Loughborough team also fielded a number of non scoring guest swimmers who set the pool alight with British Record breaking performances. Olympic finalist, Lizzie Simmonds took down the 50m backstroke with 28.61 whilst the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle team of Ross Davenport, Ben Hockin, Grant Turner and Charlie Hocking set new Club Team record of 3:19.27. Jo Jackson, no to be outdone, posted a superb 4:03.86 400m freestyle to head this years World Rankings. Director of Swimming, Ian Armiger said “ We are delighted with our results over the weekend. The swimmers always ride the wave of our great team atmosphere to produce outstanding swims.” | 
