UK Student Archery Association

SEAL title swap [26/Mar/15]

London have won the senior SEAL title whilst Southampton picked up the novice league title - a reversal of results from 12 months ago. London's 2015 title win is their second SEAL triumph following on from their success in 2013.

SEAL leg 4 was held across the weekend of the 28th February and 1st March. In the senior table London held a two point lead over Southampton, 44 to 42 with two matches to play, with Imperial in third, back on 38. London and Southampton were level at the top of the novice table, both on 43, with Portsmouth on 40.

London's seniors put some air between themselves and the competition with a score of 2212 enough to win the leg by a convincing 87 points. Southampton were second on 2125, but had more to worry about in their rear-view mirror as Imperial scored 2109. Both of these scores were very much team efforts, with no individual over 550. Essex, East Anglia and Reading also broke 2000. Sherman Ip and Dominic Collis (both London) were the engine room of their club's victory with 572 and 561, although it was Jonas Skackauskas (Brunel) who top scored in the leg with 579, whilst there was also a 563 from Klara Krouthen (East Anglia).

Southampton won the novice match on 1462, with London in second on 1401, Reading in third exactly 100 points behind London. Portsmouth, who were third in the table heading in to the match, but saw their title chances evaporate with an 8th place finish in this match. Despite this wobble they did hold on third place in the table.

Heading in to match 5: London 59, Southampton 56, Imperial 51. Novices Southampton 58, London 57, Portsmouth 48.

Two weeks later, London needed only a third placed finish to secure the title and although Southampton did put them under a little more pressure in the leg, SEAL match 5 unfolded in a similar manner to match 4. London's winning total of 2222 featured Sherman Ip and Lifei Zhang on 565 and 563. Southampton were second on 2185, 37 behind, although Andrew Howe did hit 567. Top scorer again was Jonas Skackauskas (Brunel) on 575. Imperial were third on 2106, with Surrey fourth on 2078, Matt Sharpe (Surrey) scoring exactly 560. Reading, East Anglia and Essex were also over 2000.

Southampton's novices held a slender one point lead, but won the final match comfortably with a total of 1552 to take the title. Portsmouth returned to form in this match, second on 1465. Reading grabbed third in the match ahead of London in fourth. Michael Sessions (Southampton) and Farah Rizal (London) hit 549 and 540, well clear of the other novices on the day.

The results left London as senior league champions on 74 points and Southampton second on 70. Imperial were well clear in third place overall on 64 points, with Reading leading the chasing pack on 54. An up and down season left Surrey fifth on 51, whilst East Anglia and Essex both finished on 49 league points. East Anglia's debut SEAL season saw them grab a space in the top half ahead of their Varsity rivals, narrowly on aggregate.

In the novice league, London had held a 2 point lead over Christmas, but three Southampton wins on the bounce gave them their third novice title in the last four years, fourth overall, 73 points to 69. Portsmouth also recorded their best ever finish, with 3rd place overall on 62 points after four podium finishers out of five matches. Reading were 4th in novice as well as senior league. Imperial and East Anglia were 5th and 6th, level on points, Imperial taking fifth on aggregate, but for BUTC hosts East Anglia it was another top half finish.

See the SEAL standings, after all the indoor events. The year has largely been a positive one for SEAL with expansion to 12 teams and the lowest number of DNSs since the league adopted the current format. SEAL Outdoors details to follow.