College Sport has seen Derwent dominate for the past two years, but as we reach the end of the first term of this academic year, it is James who lead the way in the overall standings, relegating Derwent to second place.
The two leading sporting college remain locked in battle at the top of the table, with James holding a slender eight point lead over their nearest rivals, which they will be looking to extend after Christmas.
Overall College Sport Standings (not including squash):
1st: James – 262
2nd: Derwent – 254
3rd: Halifax – 202
4th: Goodricke – 184
5th: Langwith – 163
6th: Vanbrugh – 157
7th: Wentworth – 155
8th: Alcuin – 153
Superb performances in topping both the high point scoring hockey and football leagues have been crucial to James’ success, whilst they have proved a model of consistency, placing well in nearly every league.
A first defeat in three years stung Derwent rugby, however they continued to excel in this, along with football, netball and volleyball. The spirit remains strong in Derwent, and with a number of important one-day tournaments to come next term, they’ll be looking to regain top spot.
The top two have established a comfortable advantage at the top, and their closest challengers appear to be third placed Halifax, who produced the highlight and shock of the year so far by beating Derwent 12-0 in rugby to clinch the title for the Autumn term. Despite this Halifax remain a distant third, 60 points behind leaders James.
An improved showing so far this year has left recent strugglers Goodricke smiling in fourth place, and with the college looking to put more emphasis on sport in the coming year, the future looks bright for the college from Heslington East, as they aim to reach the lofty heights of a decade ago when they dominated College Sport for a number of years.
After that the remaining four colleges find themselves locked in a tight battle at the foot of the table, with Langwith currently occupying fifth place, but only 10 points from the bottom. Basketball has proved to be Langwith’s strength, whilst success in women’s football has been the highlight so far for sixth placed Vanbrugh.
Wentworth have arguably made the most progress to date this year, with victories in the dodgeball one-day tournament, volleyball league and badminton doubles. Such success signifies a step forward for the postgraduate college, who remain in contention in seventh place.
At the other end of the spectrum it has been a torrid term for Alcuin, who sit bottom of the table after struggling in a number of sports. Last year they finished third overall, but this time around they have even struggled in their traditional strengths of rugby and netball, with the only cheer coming from victory in the recent touch rugby tournament.
However there is plenty of time for all of this to change, with a great number of points on offer next term. The question is can James end Derwent’s dominance of College Sport? We’ll have to wait and see…
Alcuin 3s finished in a respectable 2nd in their league, raking in the points for Alcuin. Wouldn’t be surprised if we earned all 153.