Eighteen Fins’ swimmers were at the Excite Leisure Centre in Bathgate on 2nd September 2023 to compete in the Dunedin Challenge meet.
Back Row L to R – Steven, Jennifer, Blair, & Jack,
Front L to R – Cole, Millie, Bailey, Sadie, Grace Mills, & Summer.
The swimmers had a successful day competing in a total of 65 swims which produced a good 68% improvement rate, and of the 21 swims that didn’t quite manage a PB 14 achieved a medal. Overall, 12 of the swimmers won a total of 9 gold, 13 silver, and 6 bronze medals, and there were a further 20 top 10 finishes.
Top swimmer for Fins, in terms of achievement, was Erin Taylor, 17/O girls, with three gold medals from three swims. They came in the 200m individual medley, 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle.
Erin is already top of the Fins’ all time top 50 rankings in the individual medley and the breaststroke and despite a 0.48 second PB, in the freestyle, she remains in 13th place in the rankings. A further 1.00 second reduction would move Erin up to 9th place.
Kristen Mackay, 13/14 girls, won 2 gold, and 2 silver medals, plus a 4th place finish.
Kristen’s gold medals came in the 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke, and the silver medals in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. With her 4th place coming in the 100m backstroke.
A 0.23 second PB in her 100m freestyle moves Kristin from 44th in the rankings to 42nd. A further 1.00 second improvement would result in a 30th place. Also, a 0.32 second PB in her 100m backstroke means that Kristen enters the rankings in 49th place. This means that we lose Kirsty Davis from the rankings and she set her time at the REN96 meet in November 2016. A further 1.00 second reduction would give Kristen a 46th place.
Adam Selbie, 13/14 boys, won two gold medals and one silver, with the golds coming in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle, and the silver in the 200m individual medley. All three swims produced good PBs and his 1.71 second PB in the 100m backstroke means that Adam enters the rankings in 50th place. Leaving this time is Steven Hay who set his time at Kirkcaldy in November 1986.
A further 1.00 second reduction would move Adam to 45th place.
The final two gold medals were won by Blair Wardlaw, in his only two swims and they came in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle.
Ethan Pate, 11/12 boys, won four silver medals and a 4th place. Ethan’s medals were in the 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke, while his 4th place was in the 100m backstroke. Ethans top PB was 3.20 seconds in his backstroke, and he was just two one hundredths of a second outside his 200m individual medley PB.
Millie Whytock, 9/10 girls, won three silver medals, a bronze medal, and an 8th place finish. Millie’s silver medals came in the 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, and 50m backstroke. She won the bronze medal in the 100m individual medley and finished 8th in the 50m breaststroke.
Millie achieved the largest Fins’ PB at the meet when she reduced her 100m individual medley by 7.84 seconds.
Steven Pate, 15/16 boys, won a silver and two bronze medals, in his three swims. The silver medal was won in the 100m breaststroke with the two bronze medals coming in the 200m individual medley and 100m freestyle.
Steven had the third largest improvement, with a 6.50 second improvement in the 200m individually, and just missed out on the top 50 rankings by 0.22 seconds.
Jennifer Gordon, 17/O girls, had two swims winning a silver and a bronze medal, with the silver coming in the 200m individual medley and the bronze in the 100m freestyle.
The remaining silver medal was won by Cole Gray, 9/10 boys, in the 50m butterfly, but in addition, Cole had four 4th place finishes. These came in the 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, 50m freestyle and 100m individual medley. All Cole’s swims produced PBs with largest being 3.96 seconds in his 100m individual medley.
Caleb Gray, 11/12 boys, won a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly and he also had 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th place finishes. They came in the 200m individual medley, 100m freestyle, 10m backstroke, and 100m breaststroke respectively. Caleb recorded the 4th largest improvement of 6.31 seconds in his 200m individual medley.
Eva Watson, 11/12 girls, also won a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly, and finished 4th in the 200m individual medley, 7th in the 100m freestyle, 10th in the 100m backstroke, and 16th in the 100m breaststroke. Eva recorded the 2nd largest improvement with a 6.79 second PB in the 200m individual medley.
The final Fins’ medal was a bronze won by Grace Wilson, 15/16 girls, in the 100m freestyle which was her only swim at the meet.
The results for the remaining swimmers are:
Charlotte Wardlaw, 15/16 girls, 4th – 100m breaststroke; 6th – 200m individual medley; and 12th 100m freestyle
Bailey Salmond-Wills, 9/10 boys, 6th – 50m breaststroke; and 8th – 50m freestyle.
Jack Campbell, 11/12 boys, 7th – 100m butterfly; 11th – 100m backstroke; 12th – 200m individual medley; and 13th – 100m freestyle. Jack was the 5th largest improver, reducing his 100m backstroke time by 6.29 seconds.
Grace Mills, 9/10 girls, 7th – 50m breaststroke; 18th – 50m backstroke; and 20th – 50m freestyle. Grace was the 6th largest improver when she reduced her 50m freestyle time by 5.03 seconds.
Sadie Paton,11/12 girls, 11th – 100m butterfly, 28th – 100m backstroke; and 29th 100m freestyle
Summer Ramshaw, 11/12 girls, 12th – 100m butterfly; 34th – 100m backstroke; and 35th – 100m freestyle.
Back Row L to R – Kristin, Erin, Grace, Charlotte, and Blair
Front Row L to R – Adam, Eva, Caleb, Jennifer, and Ethan
Well done again to all the swimmers who took part and it was good to see some new faces entering an open competition.
Finally, a big thank you to Yvonne Pate for providing the photos.
Ken White
Club Press Officer