Sports Editors Abyan Memon and Joel Lim recap Day 3 of Varsity 2026.
Day 3 of Varsity featured a slew of Varsity match-ups, as KCL looked to overcome a 4-3 deficit. Roar provides an overview of how the third day of Varsity went.
Cycling
The Women’s race, in a format of 30 min + 3 laps, featured a field of 7 riders. President of KCL Cycling, Ellen, attempted to take an early lead, but was brought back by Fiona from UCL, who ended up winning the Women’s race. Ellen finished in second place, earning points for KCL, whilst the third and final points place was also secured by UCL. KCL’s Rhiannon also put on a great performance, battling against two UCL riders.
The Men’s race featured a field of 30 riders and was run over 45 min + 3 laps, with different race lengths helping the commissaire to differentiate between the races. In the Men’s race, a rider from UCL attacked early and managed to break away from the peloton. There were several attempts to chase him down, with another UCL rider being successful and breaking away from the main group as well. As the race went on the riders spaced out, battling it out across the circuit.
Nathan, Felix and Edward finished in third, fourth and fifth respectively, all scoring points. Despite tremendous effort from KCL in both races, UCL took home the fixture with a final score of 13-8. Roar looks forward to what KCL Cycling will produce next year.
American Football
The show put on by the Regents and the Emperors rivalled Super Bowl LX across every category, from the scoring and the exciting plays to how close the game stayed throughout. After KCL opened the game 13-0 with an opening drive and a defensive score, UCL answered and kept answering, never letting KCL go up by more than two scores and giving themselves multiple chances to take the lead. However, despite not playing their best game and giving up 36 points, the KCL defense never let UCL take the lead, eventually getting the game-winning stop to take the victory 42-36.
Multiple Regents players shone in the game. Acũna III collected three interceptions, including two on UCL’s first two drives and returned one for a pick six. Quarterback Stolz threw for three passing touchdowns and ran for a rushing touchdown for a total of four touchdowns in the game. Jagger was on the receiving end for two of those touchdowns and some incredible catches. Mohammed Fohpa was big for the running game, providing big plays, including one resulting in a rushing touchdown.
Muay Thai
Similar to last year’s results, KCL Muay Thai lost to UCL by one point, winning just one of three bouts. They will look to change that next year.
Lacrosse
KCL Lacrosse won their Women’s game last year 14-10, but lost their Men’s game 7-6. This year, the Men’s game stayed close but KCL managed to edge out UCL 9-7. While the Women’s team faced a tough 20-9 defeat to UCL, they will look to bounce back next year.
Ultimate Frisbee
The frisbee team entered the fixture guns blazing, boasting a strong team with many notable players. For example, star player Rana Sarin was recently selected to represent GB at the WFDF U24 World Championships, while Catherine Flavell also played alongside Rana in the GB U24 Mixed team. King’s had recently played UCL the previous week for their Opens and Women’s BUCs competition, with UCL barely winning both. As such, King’s Ultimate Frisbee entered Varsity with a real desire to take victory home.
And take victory home they did, with a 15-10 win over UCL. In a competitive and nerve-wrecking match, clutch performances by players like Jamie Robertson, KCL’s offensive cutter who scored when it mattered most and Men’s captain Maximilian Eller, who determined the pace and tone of the game from the get-go, led the Reds to a victory over their rivals. This was a remarkable win for the team, particularly given the number of debut performances from freshman players, who left their all on the field!
Athletics
King’s Athletics entered this year’s Varsity series with their guns blazing, having recently won the LUCA indoors, notably beating UCL to the title by one point. This year’s team fielded an exceptionally strong lineup of athletes, with the Women’s team in particular having produced exceptional results all season.
The series opened with a dominant victory by Imogen King in the 5k, who took home the race with an impressive 18:26 time. While UCL managed to rack up points in the mid-distance 800m and 400m races, KCL Athletics clawed their way back with stellar performances, especially by the Women’s team. This was encapsulated by a dominant showing by Isabel Walton, who won the 100m and 200m hurdles, as well as finishing 2nd in the 100m race. Lateefah Agberemi, the MVP of the LUCA indoor championships, also followed up her historic performance two months ago with yet another great showing, clinching the 100m race as well as the shot put, long jump and triple jump events.
The race of the day, however, was undoubtedly the 200m Men’s race, with a photo-finish between KCLAXC’s President, Pierre Walker, and two other UCL athletes. He was eventually determined to have finished second runner-up, with a margin of 0.15 seconds. The series was ultimately determined by the relay races, which accounted for double the points. With a larger overall team, UCL was able to take advantage of their larger squad size to take home all of the races, bar the Women’s double, capping off their narrow Varsity victory (172-166).
Fencing
Despite major improvements in their Varsity performances, both KCL Fenicng teams walked away with narrow defeats (130-127 for the Women’s team and 132-119 for the Men’s team). The club is trending in the right direction and Roar is excited for next year’s game.
Swimming and Water Polo
Behind a great result of an 8th overall and a BUSL National Finals appearance this year, KCL swimming looked to put up a strong fight against UCL. They eventually lost by 34 points, though most races were highly competitive and very close. Events like the 50m breast stroke saw Maia win her individual race, while the 50m free style saw the spectators at the edge of their seat as Toby out-touched his competitor to take the race. Despite the loss, the team is still motivate and now even more hungry for victory next year!
The waterpolo team went into the game behind a great LUSL season. The mixed varsity squad saw a combination of experienced and newer players, who contributed on all fronts in the game. Even though the team eventually lost the game 20-14 to UCL, the waterpolo team stepped out of the pool with much pride in their performance.
Kendo
Following a victory by KCL last year, the pressure was on the Reds to replicate their success this year. Before 22 March, KCL dominated the practice match against UCL, ICL and Oxford, giving them much confidence before the big game against their archrivals.
This year’s Varsity match featured 10 matches, including debut matches by three of the competitors. The series was opened by star player Ingrid, with a dominant 2-0 win. King’s then followed it up with impressive performances by Thuv and Li, ending the first five games 3 games to 1 (in KCL’s favour). However, the series was one of two halves, as a late surge by UCL in the last few games (where they won 3-0) meant that the series finished in a nail-biting 4-3 defeat to UCL. That said, the King’s athletes should still be proud of their impressive performance, as the victory could have easily gone to them had things gone just slightly differently.
Overall, despite disappointingly allowing UCL to extend their lead, our King’s athletes should still hold their heads up high for their performances that showed grit, determination and a great deal of effort!
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