Toni Shaw and Ollie Carter were the University of Stirling’s top performers at the BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships this past weekend as the team won 24 medals in Sheffield.
Competing in her first ever BUCS event, Shaw impressed as she won gold in the S9 100 butterfly, 50m freestyle, 200 individual medley, 400m freestyle and silver in the 100m backstroke. The Business Studies student also broke a national record and was named Women’s Para Performance Overall Champion.
Commenting on her BUCS debut, Shaw said: "It’s such a nice feeling to be a BUCS winner.
“It’s my first BUCS and I've really enjoyed it. My highlight of the weekend has been all the races, watching the finals and watching Stirling smash it. It's just been incredible.”
There was similar success for Sports Studies student, Carter, who won three golds in the S10 50m freestyle, 100m breakstroke and 100m breakstroke, along with a silver in the 100m freestyle. His efforts, which saw him break Scottish records and set a number of new personal bests, also saw him named Men’s Para Performance Overall Champion.
After a heavy schedule of racing across the weekend, the final-year student said: “"It's been exhausting. It's been seven races. Usually, I do one a day so it's good to see a pay-off.
“This is my fourth year at Stirling, so I have been there a while and it's obviously been really beneficial for me. We've got a good para programme going on.
“We have a big competition coming up in Swansea in December, so that'll be a big focus for my 100m butterfly because I'm aiming for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham for that.”
Ollie Carter (pic by Scottish Swimming)
Elsewhere in the team, Abby Kane also won multiple medals with gold in the S13 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke, silver in the 200m individual medley and bronzes in the50m and 100m freestyle events.
Olympian Cassie Wild, reinforced her credentials as she won gold in the 200m backstroke alongside a silver and bronze in the 50m and 100m events. Keanna McInnes also impressed in her comeback event as she took gold in the 200m butterfly whilst the pair were part of the silver-medal winning medley relay team alongside Victoria Russell and Lotta Upanne.
Upanne had earlier won bronze in the 50m backstroke whilst there were also third place finished for Jennifer King (200m backstroke), Will Ellington (200m breaststroke) and Nicholas Pyle (100m backstroke).
The team finished second behind Loughborough in the overall points table.
Adding his thoughts on the weekend, Bradley Hay, University of Stirling High Performance Swim Coach: “It was an excellent overall team performance with a number of personal bests, final appearances and podium finishes.
“We’re particularly encouraged by some of our younger athletes, who were competing at this level for the first time, and our para-athletes also impressed with some brilliant displays across the weekend.
“The meet has highlighted the depth we’ve been developing within the programme and we’re really excited to see what this group can go on to achieve”.
Read more about the University of Stirling high performance swimming programme.