The University of Nottingham has achieved fourth position in the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) rankings with a total of 3553.5 points – its best total and position for over a decade.
The green and gold ended the previous 2014/15 campaign on 3006 points in seventh position after looking set to finish higher, but this year the University of Nottingham’s sports teams dominated across numerous disciplines throughout the season to cement the top five finish.
UoN finished behind Edinburgh in third, Durham (second) and first placed East Midlands neighbours Loughborough on 5793 points. Loughborough ended the season top of the leaderboard for the fourtieth year in a row.
The BUCS league table totals up points from 47 different sports from institutions across all four home nations. University of Nottingham joins an elite top five universities whose teams and individual participants have performed at the highest level in the 2015/16 academic year.
NEWS: @UniofNottingham storm the top four in annual @BUCSsport University sport rankings! https://t.co/6DOvSm63jr pic.twitter.com/P37xfUNhmM
— UoN Sport (@UoNSport) July 22, 2016
The successful finish is testament to a fantastic year of achievements across numerous sports for the University, not only in BUCS but also in cup and individual competitions, as well as victory for a fifth year in a row in the Nottingham Varsity Series.
Highlights of the 2015/16 season have featured national wins for the Men’s and Women’s Table Tennis teams, demonstrating our programme as the leading university performance centre in the UK.
The men’s firsts dominated their league, winning by nine points against second placed Trent, while the women’s firsts won all of their ten league matches to top the Midlands league 1A. Table Tennis scored an almighty 456 points towards the green and gold’s 3553.5 BUCS total.
It was also BUCS Championship gold for Women’s Squash, our Men’s Tennis firsts won the Premier Northern play-offs after a season without defeat, and more than 20 teams topped their leagues.
Individual victories came from Jono Jones, who triumphed in his second consecutive Downhill Mountain Bike title, and Squash’s Hana Ramadan, who secured gold in the Women’s Squash championship.
Lauren Heria, the Students’ Union Sports Officer, said: “I’m so proud of our achievement this year in the BUCS rankings. All the athletes, coaches and staff have worked so hard to make these results happen”.
“Our student clubs have demonstrated fantastic drive and commitment”
Heria added: “We’ve got a hugely exciting year ahead and I’m really looking forward to supporting our clubs to build on their achievements and continue to strive for sporting excellence”.
Dan Tilley, Director of Sport at the University, said: “Our fourth place finish is testament to our continued investment into performance sport here at the University of Nottingham”.
He continued, “We have recruited world-class coaches to lead our programmes, invested in the development of sector-leading facilities and increased our support packages for student athletes. Our student clubs have demonstrated fantastic drive and commitment so I’m absolutely delighted to see them obtaining such strong results across the year”.
“University of Nottingham sport will be aiming to improve on this season’s success next year”
University of Nottingham sport will be aiming to improve on this season’s success next year with the University entering a record number of teams into the BUCS leagues and with the £40 million David Ross Sports Village set to open in autumn 2016.
Sports players and athletes will have access to world class facilities in the new sports centre, including a Human Performance Unit, 60m sprint track and 200-station fitness suite.
The green and gold have had a fantastic year and long may the success of our sports teams and participants continue into the next campaign.
What a year for sport! Been incredible to work with so many clubs.
Watch the video here: https://t.co/LJKh8B0hJW pic.twitter.com/A2UleyBFmG
— leolightfoot (@leolightfoot) April 21, 2016
Joe Tanner
Image: University of Nottingham
Video: University of Nottingham Table Tennis via Youtube
