The Scottish Summer Meet was the final major age group competition of the 2025 long course season and was held in the Aquatics Centre at the Aberdeen Sports Village from the 10th to the 13th June, inclusive.
The meet covered the ages from 12 years to 18 years. All the events consisted of heats and finals except for the 400m and over events which were swum as heat declared winners,
Kirkcaldy based, Fins Competitive Swim Club had eleven swimmers qualify for the event and they had a relatively good three days of competition. In total they contested 51 events, 33 of which resulted in a PB, and one swimmer equalled his previous PB. Nine of the swimmers achieved at least a 2nd reserve place for the finals, or equivalent (12th place). This included one gold medal, which was also a new club record, one silver and two bronze medals, plus a further 24 swims that achieved a 12th place or better.
Being a long course event, it was hoped that several changes would take place to the incomplete top 50 long course club rankings and again the swimmers did not disappoint with 20 actual changes in positions, plus 5 new entries, plus a further 10 PBs or equal PB where the improvement had no effect on the swimmer’s position.
Top swimmer for Fins was Kristin Mackay who won the 17/18 years female,1500m freestyle, despite being on the wrong side of a two year age group. Kristin’s winning time of 18 minutes 42.33 seconds is a new club record beating her own record, set just two weeks previously, by 2.48 seconds.
Kristin was also 4th in the 400m individual medley finishing just behind 18 year old Jessica Smith of University of Aberdeen Performance Squad, and was 6th in the 400m freestyle. Obviously as club record holder in the 1500m freestyle there is no change to Kristin’s position in the long course rankings There was however a slight movement from 4th place to 3rd in the 400m freestyle with a 4.77 second PB.
Lilian Blair, 12/13 female, won the silver medal in the 100m butterfly, finishing just behind Emily Taylor of Lanark. She also won a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley, behind Meghan Ferris of Cumbernauld and Grace Taylor of Alford Otters, and was unfortunate not to win another silver medal, losing out to Grace by just two one hundredths of a second.
Lillian was again unfortunate not to win a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle, this time losing out to Casey Crisp of East Kilbride by just six one hundredths of a second.
Lilian’s other swims were 5th in the 400m individual medley, 6th in the 200m freestyle, 9th in the 100m breaststroke, and 16th in the 200m breaststroke.
Lilian had four improvements in the rankings with her largest in the 200m freestyle where she moves from 12th to 8th place with a 3.00 second PB. She is also ranked 8th in two other events, moving from 9th to 8th in the 400m individual medley with a 7.10 second PB, but a 0.13 second PB in her 100m freestyle means she remains in 8th. place. Lilian’s two other improvements were moving from 11th to 10th in the 100m butterfly with a 1.32 second PB, and from 14th to 12th in the 200m individual medley with a 1.01 second PB.
Millie Whytock,12/13 female, won an excellent bronze medal in the 200m butterfly, considering she is in the 12 year old side of the two year age group. Millie finished behind Emily Taylor and Grace Taylor, who is also a 12 year old, but what made it special was that in the heats she recorded 22.26 second PB, and in the final reduced her time again by 8.70 seconds, giving her an overall improvement on the day of 30.96 seconds. Grace Taylor also recorded a good BP of 8.31 seconds but Millie has closed the gap between them by 22.65 seconds, and it now stands at 9.84 seconds.
The two swimmers were a bit closer in the 100m butterfly where Millie had to settle for 4th place, finishing just 0.26 seconds behind Grace. Millie also finished 4th in the 200m backstroke, again losing out on a medal to Grace by 3.75 seconds.
Millie’s other swims were 6th in the 100m backstroke, 8th in the 100m freestyle, 1oth in the 200m freestyle, 1st reserve for the final of the 200m individual medley, and 13th in the 400m freestyle.
Overall, Millie was certainly the most improved Fins’ swimmer over the three days and no doubt about the most improved individual event, which was her amazing 30.96 second PB in her 200m butterfly, which moves her up the rankings from 12th place to 7th place. In addition Millie had a further seven swims where she recorded times that moved her up the rankings, in six of them, and these were the 200m backstroke where a 3.29 second PB moves her from 14th to 11th, 100m backstroke where a 1.90 second PB moves her from 17th to 12th, 200m freestyle with a 4.63 second PB moving her from 16th to 13th, a 15th to 13th movement in the 100m butterfly with a 2.62 second PB, 100m freestyle where a 1.88 second PB moves her from 18th to 14th, and unfortunately a 1.09 second PB in her 400m freestyle was insufficient for any movement, remaining in 14th place, and her final improvement was a 2.28 second PB in her 200m individual medley moving her from 23rd to 21st.
Eva Watson, 14 years female, was 5th in the 800m freestyle and 6th in the 1500m freestyle. Eva recorded a marginal PB in her 1500, but in her 800m freestyle she achieved the 2nd largest PB by a Fin’s swimmer of 9.99 seconds. Eva also finished 15th in the 400m freestyle, 16th in the 200m freestyle, and 19th in the 200m butterfly. In terms of Fins’ rankings Eva remains in 2nd place in the 1500m freestyle with a 0.69 second PB, and in her 800m freestyle her PB, just short of 10 seconds also resulted in no change and she remains in 6th place.
Ethan Pate, 14 years male, was 8th in the 800m and 9th in the 1500m freestyle., both with moderate PBs Ethan was also 2nd reserve for the final of the 200m butterfly, 18th in the 400m individual medley and 22nd in the 100m butterfly.
Ethan’s top ranking is 5th in the 800m freestyle but his 2.51 second PB was insufficient to change that position. He did however move up two places in his 200m butterfly from 8th to 6th with a 2.96 second PB. Ethan also remains 8th in the 1500m freestyle, this time a 4.42 second PB resulted in no change, and finally a 3.17 second PB in his 100m butterfly moves him from 18th to 17th.
Irys Blair, 15 years female, was 10th in both the 50m and 100m backstroke, 13th in the 200m backstroke, and 16th in the 200m individual medley. Irys recorded a 0.55 second PB in her 50m backstroke to move from 8th to 7th in the rankings.
Olivia Bowler, 14 years female, was 2nd reserve for the 200m freestyle final, and was also 12th in the 400m freestyle. She did qualify in 10th place in the heats of the 100m breaststroke but did not compete in the final. Olivia’s other two swims resulted in 13th place in the 200m breaststroke, and 14th in the 100m freestyle. This was Olivia’s first event as a Fins’ swimmer and therefore all the swims were new entries to the rankings. Olivia’s highest entry is in 7th place in the 100m breaststroke, followed by an 8th place in the 200m breaststroke. She also entered in 11th place in the 400m freestyle, 12th in the 200m freestyle, and 13th in the 100m freestyle.
Jack Campbell, 12/13 years male was 2nd reserve for the final of the 200m butterfly, and did so with the 3rd largest PB, by a Fins’ swimmer. of 8.39 seconds. Jack also finished 21st in the 100m butterfly, and .27th in the 100m freestyle.
Jack’s improvement in the 200m butterfly moves him from 13th to 12th in the rankings, and a 3.04 second PB in his 100m butterfly resulted in no change and he remains in 20th place.
Harvey Whytock, 15 years male, was 2nd reserve for the final of the 200m butterfly, in which he achieved with a modest PB, and was 22nd in the 100m butterfly. Harvey’s 1.74 second PB in his 200m butterfly moves him from 5th to 4th in the rankings, and he equalled his PB in the 100m butterfly and therefore remains in 12th place.
The two remaining swimmers were Cole Gray, 12/13 years male, whose highest finish was 13th in the 200m butterfly, and Caleb Gray, 14 years male, whose highest finish was 18th, also in the 200m butterfly.
Cole also finished 17th in the 200m backstroke, 18th in both the 200m and 400m freestyle, 19th in the 100m butterfly, 24th in the 100m freestyle, 27th in the 100m breaststroke, and 28th in the 100m backstroke.
Cole recorded a 2.36 second PB in his 200m butterfly which moves him from 14th to 13th, and a 1.30 second PB in his 100m butterfly moves him from 20th to 19th.
