There were also silver medals for teams in badminton, hockey and netball as students proudly represented the Blue & Gold of The SU Bath in national finals in Nottingham on Wednesday.

Team Bath Tennis Women

The Bath Tennis women’s 1sts, sponsored by Bath Building Society, wrapped up a league and cup double as they completed their unbeaten season with a fantastic 4-2 victory over Stirling in the National Championship final.

Freya Davies and Orla Cooper got them off to a flying start, winning the opening doubles rubber 6-0 6-3, before Fran Franchi and Millie Devey Smith came from behind to win their match 4-6 6-4 10-4. The trophy was secured in the first two singles matches as Davies stormed to a 6-1 6-0 victory and Cooper won 6-1 6-4 to give Team First Women’s Premier (National) champions Bath an unassailable lead.

Bath’s men put up a fantastic fight in their National Championship final, also against Stirling, and were level after the doubles thanks to a 6-4 6-3 win for Matthew Doe and Harry Lazell in their rubber. Lazell also won his singles 6-0 6-2 and the other matches featuring Doe, William McLennaghan and Fred Withers all went to three sets. Stirling were able to battle through them to seal a 4-2 overall victory but Bath could be proud of their silver medal after a fourth-placed finish in the league.

Bath men’s 2nds went one better in their final as they beat Stirling 4-1 to add the National Trophy to the Teach First Men’s Premier South league title at the end of an excellent unbeaten season.

The University of Bath also had two teams in action in the netball finals, with the women’s 1sts – featuring Team Bath Super League trio Sophie Kelly, Lily Jones and Jayda Pechova – losing out 64-48 in a high-quality Championship decider to a Loughborough side also featuring a host of Super League players.

The 2nds have enjoyed a brilliant season to ensure Bath would be represented in the Trophy final for the first time in many years but Leeds Beckett’s 1sts proved too strong as they came from behind to win 70-48.

On the badminton court, the Bath men’s 1sts – winners of the Premier South title – were beaten for the first time this season by Premier North champions Loughborough in a well-fought Championship final. William Jones and Toby Dillingham won a doubles rubber 21-13 21-18 and there was a 21-18 21-18 singles win for Kaylan Jensen, while Chris Liu, Harry Hodges and Harry Jones were all involved in hard-fought contests during the 6-2 overall defeat.

Bath women’s hockey 1sts were also in action during a busy day, narrowly losing 2-1 to Nottingham Trent in the ICG Women’s National Vase final.

BUCS Big Wednesday marks the culmination of the British Universities & Colleges Sport league season, which runs annually from October to March, with Championship and Trophy finals taking place across 16 different sports.

Visit teambath.com/student to find out more about student sport at the University of Bath.

With thanks to the Team Bath Press Office

The team of captain Olivia Wray (Politics and International Relations), Alice Moffat (MSc Drug Discovery), Catherine Bishop (Pharmacy), Catriona Gilmour (Mechanical Engineering), Gaia Guido (International Management), Katie Little (Chemical Engineering PhD) and GB international Louise Sadler (Modern Languages), who is supported by a Trendell Sporting Scholarship, have been in great form throughout the season.

As well as win all eight league matches to top the BUCS Western Tier 1 table, they also produced a number of strong performances in the knockout competition to qualify for the trophy showdown against the University of Glasgow.

Both teams of seven fenced three consecutive matches – each of them using a different weapon – to 45 points and while it was a challenging start to the day, Bath fought back brilliantly to overcome an early 24-point deficit to take the win 111-105.

It was the perfect preparation ahead of the forthcoming promotion play-offs, where Bath are looking to secure a place in Premier South.

With thanks to the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight

There was a medal of each colour for the University’s badminton players, coached by Peter Bush, with Molly Chapman and Santander Sporting Scholar Will Jones (both Sports Performance) taking the mixed doubles title.

Jones also claimed men’s doubles silver with Toby Dillingham (Mechanical Engineering), who was a bronze-medallist in the mixed doubles with Cara Collins (Sports Performance).

In the Ponds Forge Swimming Pool, Santander Scholar Leah Crisp (Economics & Mathematics) took the 800m freestyle gold (8:51.48) ahead of Tokyo Olympian Alice Dearing and was also runner-up in the 400m freestyle (4:18.92).

There was a silver medal too in the men’s 400m freestyle relay for the quartet of Goldsmith Scholar William Ryley (Management), Miles Drabwell (Economics), Cam Brooker (Mechanical Engineering) and Bruno Kempster (Politics & International Relations) (3:24.00).

Ivor Powell Scholar Brooker, coached by David McNulty, won bronze in both the 100m backstroke (55.76) and 200m backstroke (2:02.27), as well as the 400m medley relay along with Tom Beagley (Mechanical Engineering), Josh Gammon (Sports Performance) and Kempster (3:45.43), the latter also placing third in the 50m freestyle (23.29).

Gammon, coached by Mark Skimming, completed a hat-trick of podium places with bronze in both the 50m butterfly (24.81) and 200m butterfly (2:04.19), while Markos Iakovidis (Sports Performance) – who represented Cyprus at the World Short-Course Championships in December – was third in the 50m breaststroke (28.82).

On the athletics track Justin Davies (Biomedical Sciences) won 1,500m silver (3:53.94) and Emily Tyrrell (Sports Performance), also coached by Colin Bovell, took bronze in a photo-finish to the 60m hurdles final, her big personal best of 8.56 giving her a podium place by two-thousandths of a second.

Jimmy Seacombe (Sport and Exercise Science) narrowly missed out on a medal in the 400m, just being pipped on the line after leading for much of the race.

The fencing competition saw Trendell Scholar Louise Sadler (Modern Languages) win silver in the women’s epee, while there was bronze for Connor Johnstone (Mechanical Engineering) in the men’s epee plate.

Bath students also competed in the climbing championships, with Joseph Lane (177 points) and Jane Blackbourn (161) top-ranked in their respective competitions.

Applications are now being taken from current and prospective student-athletes at the University of Bath for the 2022-23 Sporting Scholarships. Visit teambath.com/scholarships to find out more.

Lead photo shows: (From left) Bath badminton players Will Jones, Molly Chapman, Cara Collins and Toby Dillingham with their mixed doubles medals at BUCS Nationals.

With thanks to the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight

Swimmer Luke Turley and judoka George Kroussaniotakis and Lewis Widdicombe all claimed two titles apiece, and karate’s Sophie Atkinson, a silver medallist in last year’s women’s novice kata, went one better this time round.

Track athlete Remi Adebiyi also claimed a maiden BUCS Nationals gold in the men’s 1,500m by dramatically throwing himself over the line to see off Cardiff’s James Heneghan.

Tom Sawko, Sports Officer for The SU Bath, said: “BUCS Nationals proved to be an incredible event for Bath yet again – from Remi’s gold-winning tumble in the 1,500m to the nail-biting men’s team final in the judo, it was a weekend that I’ve no doubt will be remembered fondly by all that attended.

“It was particularly great to see the culmination of hard work by coaches and athletes over all seven sports and the camaraderie shown by all those wearing the Blue & Gold. Well done to everyone who climbed, fenced, swam, ran, fought, threw and jumped, and a special thanks to all those who worked behind the scenes.”

It was a successful weekend in the dojo for the University’s judo squad, coached by Adam Hall and Tom Reed, who bagged gold in the 1st kyu and above category through Imogen Ranner (-78kg), Widdicombe (-90kg) and Kroussaniotakis (-100kg).

The two latter judoka also won the men’s team title with James Reseigh, Harry Stone and Jared Sey, while there was 2nd kyu and below gold for Alex Myers (-66kg).

Reseigh (-66kg silver) and Sey (-90kg bronze) also claimed individual medals, as did Charlie Bond (-57kg silver), Nathan Bridges (-60kg bronze), Cameron Charles (-73kg bronze, 1st kyu) and Kieran Pargeter (-73kg bronze, 2nd kyu).

The Blue & Gold also excelled in the swimming pool, picking up nine medals in total with Will Ryley and Jacob Greenow collecting five between them. The squad, coached by Mark Skimming and Andrei Vorontsov, earned 182 meet points in total to finish fourth overall.

Sports Performance student Turley, supported by the Team Bath Dual Career programme, took the men’s 1,500m freestyle title on day one with a time of 15:38.70 and Goldsmith Sporting Scholar Ryley completed a Bath one-two by finishing runner-up.

Saturday saw Turley produce a sensational season’s best performance in the 200m freestyle to claim his second gold in 1:50.45, a tremendous surge in the final length overhauling Loughborough’s Joe Litchfield, and he was only denied a third title in the 800m freestyle by Sports Performance alumni Jay Lelliott.

Natural Sciences student Greenow, supported by a Santander Scholarship, claimed silver in the men’s open 400m IM in an enthralling race before bagging a brace of bronzes on day three in the 200m butterfly and 200m IM, with Bath team-mate Miles Drabwell finishing fifth in the latter final.

Chemistry student Ryley added to his 1,500m silver on day one with a personal best in the 200m backstroke and a bronze in the 400m Freestyle, where Lelliott gained another gold.

Jasmine Iley, who studies Sport & Exercise Science, also achieved a PB when she won bronze in the 200m backstroke, her time of 2:15.63 being just 0.13 off silver.

She was also part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle team – alongside Meghan Byrne, Jana Spinner and Rachel Cox – that just missed out of a podium finish, as did the men’s quartet of Ryley, Turley, Drabwell and Bruno Kempster.

Paralympic Champion Stephanie Millward, who trains at the University with Team Bath AS, was among the guest swimmers competing in Sheffield and won the women’s 400m freestyle MC title in 5:01.64.

There were a host of excellent performances from Bath track and field athletes, most notably from first-year Mathematics student Adebiyi who made certain of the men’s 1,500m title by diving over the finishing line.

Matthew Fay, studying for a Masters in Management and coached by Colin Bovell, recorded a 4.80m jump in the pole vault to clinch silver.

There were more medals for Bath in the karate dojo as Architecture student Atkinson struck gold in the women’s novice kata and there was bronze in the mixed team kata.

The Bath badminton squad, coached by Peter Bush, collected two bronze medals in doubles competitions. Josh Hong and William Jones lost 13-21 21-16 17-21 to eventual winners Alex Dunn and Adam Pringle, while Molly Chapman and Katie Scott were edged out 19-21 21-16 21-12 in their semi-final.

Find out more about student sport at the University of Bath by visiting www.teambath.com/student.

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight

Durham are aiming to be the only undefeated team this season by overthrowing the reigning champions and claiming the title. Exeter no doubt will be doing all they can to prevent this happening and hang on to their crown.

Durham are coming off the back of the University’s most successful season ever, are yet to lose a match and have claimed the BUCS Premier North league title scoring 83 tries on the way and conceding a meagre 8 tries.

Durham University’s 1st XV were promoted to the BUCS Premier North league in 2011, and have performed well in both league and championship reaching multiple semi-finals and winning the league in 2014/2015.

The last two seasons they have lost out to the Twickenham Champions, however, this year under the leadership of Captain Beth Blacklock and Vice-Captain Coreen Grant together with international experience from Heather Kerr and Lydia Crossman they are hoping the mix of experience and young players will prove the difference in the final.  If they win, they will be the only undefeated BUCS side in the country – quite a feat!

But it’s not just the first XV that have been celebrating, this season has been hugely successful for the whole of the Durham University Women’s Rugby Club; their 2nd XV won the Northern 3B League title with ten wins out of ten and picking up ten bonus points on the way. While the 3rd XV finished 2nd in the Northern 4B League, a league in which half of the teams are university 1st XV teams.

DUWRFC was founded in 1983 by Head Coach Cameron Henderson who still, 36 years later, holds this position. In 2019 the club boasts three XVs teams, two VIIs teams and 13 intramural rugby teams making Durham’s the largest rugby programme in the UK.

The club is partnered with Darlington Mowden Park Sharks (playing in the Tyrrells Premier 15s) which provides players with access to coaching at the highest level of club rugby. Many of the players have played in the Tyrrells Premier 15s and Tyrrells Development league and numerous students, past and present, have progressed to their national sides.

It is an immense commitment for a student led and run club but the motivation comes from a real love for the game and an understanding of the positive impact that a hard work ethic can make in both the university and the local community.

So, can Durham achieve their aim – head on down to the glorious Twickenham Stadium on Wednesday 10th April at 12.30, take in an exceptional game of rugby and find out!

MJ Church Ambassador Dean, a 2018 European Champion who is in the first year of a Mechanical Engineering degree and supported by a Bill Whiteley Sports Scholarship, eclipsed Olympic medallist Duncan Scott’s previous mark as won 200m freestyle gold in 1:47.38.

Dean then beat Rio 2016 Olympian Max Litchfield to the 200m individual medley crown, taking his second gold of the weekend in a record time of 2:00.25.

British Swimming Sporting Scholar Tom Derbyshire, who studies Sport & Exercise Science, also won double gold at Ponds Forge after clocking impressive times of 8:18.08 in the 800m freestyle and 15:33.72 in the 1,500m freestyle.

He led a Bath one-two on both occasions, with Matthew Wright taking 800m silver in 8:29.00 and William Ryley finishing 1,500m runner-up in 15:46.20.

Ryley finished just outside the medals in the 200m backstroke and there were further fourth-placed finishes for Oliver Maltby in the 100m butterfly and Santander Scholar Jacob Greenow in the 200m individual medley, as well as five Bath relay teams.

There was a medal of each colour for Bath students on the athletics track, with Sports Performance Masters student James Gladman claiming a thrilling men’s 200m victory in 21:11.

Civil Engineering student Isobel Ives took 800m silver in 2:08.69 and Thompson Education Trust Sporting Scholar Ben Claridge, who studies Sports Performance, won 400m bronze in 48.36.

Bath enjoyed tremendous success in the martial arts competitions, with nine medals coming in the judo dojo.

Jack Purllant, Louis Delsol, Harry Boby, Harry Stone and Iosif Tsepov won men’s team championship gold, while Charlie Bond, Sophie Johnson and Hannah Rogers took bronze in the women’s team competition.

In the 1^st kyu (brown belt) and above category, Purllant won men’s -60kg silver and there were bronze medals for Olivia Smith (women’s -52kg), Rogers (women’s -78kg), Thomas Nash (men’s -73kg) and Stone (men’s -81kg).

The 2^nd kyu (blue belt) and below category saw Callum Osborne win men’s -60kg silver and Tsepov take men’s -90kg bronze.

In the karate competition, Bath won gold in the men’s team kumite and there were individual silver medals for Sophie Atkinson (women’s novice kata), Rina Matsunga (women’s senior kumite -50), Asuka Peace (women’s senior kumite -61) and Luke Williams (men’s senior kumite +84).

Badminton player Andrew Heinemann won men’s singles bronze after narrowly being edged out 21-16 11-21 22-24 in the semi-finals.

Completing the Bath medal collection was Caspian Watt, who won men’s sabre bronze in the fencing salle.

SU [Students’ Union] Sports Officer Andy Galloway said: “There were some fantastic performances from student-athletes wearing the Blue & Gold over the weekend. Congratulations to all who took part and thank you to the coaches, the Department of Sports Development & Recreation and SU staff that helped make these achievements possible.”

Applications are now being taken from current and prospective students for both the 2019-20 Sports Scholarship scheme and the Team Bath Dual Career Programme, which provide support to student-athletes at the University of Bath. Visit www.teambath.com/student to find out more.

Find out more about The SU Bath’s student sport offering by visiting www.thesubath.com/sport or www.facebook.com/thesubathsport.

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

MJ Church ambassador Hopkin, who was shortlisted alongside Edinburgh’s Eilidh Gibson (canoe slalom) and Nottingham’s Maria Tsaptsinos (table tennis), received the honour during Thursday’s BUCS Conference and Awards Dinner at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol.

It comes during a year that has seen Hopkin, coached by Mark Skimming, win four medals, including one gold, at the BUCS Nationals and help Team England to women’s 4x100m freestyle relay bronze on her Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018.

Voted by her peers as the University’s Sports Personality of the Year at the 2018 Blues Awards, Hopkin has also been selected to represent Great Britain at next month’s European Championships in Glasgow and, during a recent warm-up event in Italy, met The Pope at The Vatican.

She has also successfully juggled sport with study, with the support of a Thompson Education Trust Scholarship and Team Bath’s Dual Career Programme, and graduated with a 2.1 in Sports & Exercise Science, receiving her degree in a ceremony at Bath’s Theatre Royal on Wednesday.

“It has all been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest,” said Hopkin. “Everything seems to be going my way at the moment and lets hope it continues.

“It feels like I have achieved a lot in a short space of time but I have gradually been improving year on year since I came to Bath.

“Winning the BUCS award the day after graduation is a nice way to finish my time here. I definitely didn’t expect to win, especially after seeing what the two other women on the shortlist had achieved, so it was a nice surprise to hear my name.”

Hopkin – a 50m freestyle British Champion in 2017 – will continue training in the University’s London 2012 Legacy Pool until the end of the month as she finalises her preparations for the Europeans.

After Glasgow, she has just a week at home before flying out to the United States to start a Masters in Kinesiology on a swimming scholarship at the University of Arkansas.

Coach Skimming said: “Anna has had a great year, in and out of the pool. She has worked hard for her success and has achieved everything with a smile on her face.

“I could not be happier for Anna and we wish her every success at the European Championships and beyond.”

For more information about the successful student-swimming programme at the University of Bath, visit www.teambath.com/sport/swimming/student-swimming.

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office via Matchtight Ltd.

“I’m so, so happy – I didn’t think I’d run that quick,” said Chalmers, coached by James Hillier. “I thought maybe it would be 46.1 or 46.2 but when I saw the clock it was just ridiculous.

Cameron Chalmers (Photo: Matchtight)

“I’ve been pretty nervous all weekend. I’ve been dying to open [the season] because I’ve been training so well, no niggles and dropping some really fast times in training.”

Training partner Ben Claridge took the bronze medal in 47.23 before teaming up with Chalmers, Sport & Exercise student Sandy Wilson and International Management & Modern Languages student James Webster to win men’s 4x400m relay gold in 3:14.70.

Webster, coached by Colin Bovell, was also a bronze-medallist in the 400m hurdles, clocking 53.03.

Olivia Caesar (Sport & Exercise Science), also coached by Bovell, was runner-up in the women’s 400m final in 54.11 and was also a silver-medallist in the 4x400m relay with Rachel Donnison (Natural Sciences), Amy Jaramazovic (Psychology) and Isobel Ives (Civil Engineering).

Caesar completed a hat-trick of medals by teaming up with Rachel Bell (Sport & Exercise Science), Emma Nanson (Sport & Social Sciences) and Donnison to win 4x100m relay bronze.

Ives also claimed 800m bronze in 2:09.27 and there were a host of further top-five finishes and personal bests for the athletes in Blue and Gold as they finished fourth in the overall points standings.

Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

Cameron Chalmers (Photo: Matchtight)

There were plenty of memorable moments on the athletics track, with Sport Performance student Cameron Chalmers – supported by a Thompson Education Trust Scholarship – equaling the championship record of 46.91 as he retained the men’s 400m title.

A sensational last leg saw the women’s 4x200m relay team of Bethany Close, Rachel Bell, Olivia Caesar and Rachel Donnison chase down Loughborough to take gold by two-hundredths of a second. Emma Nanson and Jade Simson had helped them qualify for the final.

That was Sport & Exercise Science student Caesar’s second title of the weekend, following her success in the women’s 400m, and Sport & Social Sciences student Pippa Rogan also topped the podium in the women’s high jump.

Josh Olawore won silver in the men’s long jump before teaming up with Chalmers, Josh Brown and George Marsh to take bronze in the 4x200m relay. Isobel Ives was also third in the 800m.

International Development with Economics student Emily Siebrecht (pictured above) won 400m individual medley gold in a world-class swimming meet that also featured British Swimming National Centre Bath stars Jazz Carlin, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, James Guy and Andrew Willis as guest competitors.

MJ Church sporting ambassador Jay Lelliott – who, like Siebrecht, is a Santander Sport Scholar – won silver medals in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly. He also claimed two relay bronze medals – with Miles Munro, Charlie Pullan and Andrew Roy in the 4x100m freestyle and with Joe Burrin, Will Harrison and Thomas Sinclair in the 4x100m medley.

Further third-placed finishes went to Tom Derbyshire in the 1,500m freestyle, Oliver Maltby in the 100m butterfly and Shauntelle Austin, Mari Davies, Anna Hopkin and Rebecca Wilde in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

It was a fantastic weekend for the University’s karate competitors as Rina Matsunaga (women’s novice kata, novice kumite U57kg), Zachariah Barrow (men’s novice kumite O80kg) and Luke Williams (men’s senior kumite O84kg) all struck gold.

There were silver medals for Alex Powell (men’s intermediate kata), Rose Nnando (women’s novice kata), Laura Miles (women’s novice kumite U63kg), Asuka Peace (women’s senior kumite U61kg) and Andrei Ivtshenko, Frederick Lan Pak Kee, Powell, Williams and Andrew Woodford (men’s team kumite).

Nnando also won bronze in women’s novice kumite U63kg and in the women’ team kumite with Charlotte Durant and Asuka Peace. Third place also went to Daniel Gardham (men’s senior kumite U60kg), Robert Williams (men’s senior kumite U75kg) and Catherine Wise (women’s novice kumite O63kg) as Bath finished second overall in the team competition.

A high-quality judo competition involved gold medals for Jan Gosiewski (men’s -81kg) and King Scholar Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz (women’s -63kg), the latter also winning team bronze with Charlotte Bond and Hannah Rogers.

Trendell Sports Scholar Alex Bell fell just short in his men’s badminton singles title defence, having to settle for silver after a hard-fought final. Bronze medals in the men’s doubles competition went to two Bath pairings – Sam Dobson and George Priestman, and Josh Hong and George Nicolaou.

Caspian Watt was a sabre bronze-medallist in the fencing salle, while Bath students also competed well in the climbing and trampoline events.

More than 200 students proudly represented the Blue and Gold in total, receiving excellent backing from coaches and travelling support staff including Sport Science & Medicine Manager Sian Morgan, Senior Massage Therapist Gemma Prior-Reeves and physio Jack Dawkins.

The next big event in the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) calendar is BUCS Big Wednesday, the culmination of the regular league season, which is taking place at the University of Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday, March 22 and will feature thousands of athletes from across the country.

Report courtesy of Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

Anna Hopkin (Photo: Matchtight Ltd)

Sports & Exercise Science student Anna Hopkin excelled in the freestyle events, winning a brace of golds as she set new BUCS [British Universities & Colleges Sport] records of 24.54 over 50m and 53.53 over 100m. That made the 20-year-old the only female English swimmer to win double gold at the meet.

Hopkin also finished fourth in both the 50m butterfly and the women’s open 200m medley alongside Shauntelle Austin, Hannah Taleb and Rebecca Wilde, all of whom were multiple finalists at a meeting which featured several Rio 2016 Olympians.

It was a busy but rewarding weekend for MJ Church sporting ambassador Jay Lelliott, also coached by Mark Skimming, who took 200m butterfly gold in 1:56.29 and 400m freestyle silver in 3:44.19.

The Sports Performance student, supported by a Santander Sports Scholarship, also won five bronze medals after clocking 1:47.63 in the 200m freestyle, 53.44 in the 100m butterfly, 1:56.24 in the 200m backstroke, 52.89 in the 100m backstroke and 14:53.75 in the 1,500m freestyle.

Beating Lelliott to the silver medal in the long-distance race was Sport & Exercise Science first-year student Tom Derbyshire, a new recruit to the British Swimming National Centre at the Sports Training Village and a nominee for SportsAid’s prestigious One To Watch 2016 award.

Other University of Bath finalists at the weekend’s championships included Oliver Maltby, William Harrison, Joe Burrin, Lily West, Emily Siebrecht, Thomas Sinclair, Luke Demitri and Thomas Tsiopanis, who set a new Cypriot national record of 2:03.69 in the men’s 200m individual medley.

Report courtesy of the University of Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.