Warwick wins BUTC 2015!
On February 21st, Warwick A and B teams set upon the task of of winning the British University Team Championships, a tournament unlike no other with over 30 teams competing in seeding and elimination rounds. The expectations were high, wishing to go one better than just the podium position from last year, and they were not to be disappointed…
Early morning, the seeding round was under way. Warwick A team was formed by Tom Hall, Jorge Lindley, and Luke Rieman whereas B team was formed by James Jeffs, Chris Guerin and Matt Stace (all pictured above). The seeding round was a Bray I round, of which Tom Hall obtained the highest individual score of 282. Warwick A and B came 6th and 17th respectively. After the ranking round, the excitement began…
The elimination round was an unconventional round, seen few places outside of BUTC, where the three archers in each team have 40 seconds each to loose 2 arrows towards a set of 6 centimetre discs, scoring 1 point for a hit and none for a miss.
Warwick B were first up to shoot as A team were given a bye into the second round of the tournament. B team were up against 16th seed, Derby A, who came 3rd last year. Warwick B triumphed with a score of 10-6, meaning they were the only team to break seed in the tournament. After this, B team were against #1 seed Oxford A, and subsequently lost with a valiant effort 5 points to Oxford’s 16.
For Warwick A they faced UEA B and Lancaster B before meeting Edinburgh A in the quarter finals, where the pressure was on. Warwick A overcame Edinburgh with a 6-3 point victory, heading into the semi-finals against Nottingham A, another BUTTS league club. Nottingham A put up a large fight, trading blows with Warwick A until they slipped, giving Warwick a 1 point lead which they held on for, granting Warwick A the win and a place in the finals against Loughborough A…
Warwick A were strong out of the gates against Loughborough A, winning the first two ends 4-2 and 3-2. Loughborough set up a defence in the penultimate end, giving a valiant 4-4 draw. However, Warwick held strong and went into the last end with a 3 point lead on Loughborough A with 11-8 points in Warwick’s favour. Warwick kept their cool and calmed their nerve, winning the last end and winning the tournament!
Winning BUTC marks the last of the trophies to appear in UWAC’s trophy cabinet, joining BUCS and BUTTS trophies, medals and a plethora of other winnings from county tournaments. With BUTC over, Warwick move onto preparing for the BUTTS league championships this coming weekend.
