Fins’ swimmers have been in action over the past two weekends and have once again exceeded expectations.
Last weekend four swimmers qualified for the Edinburgh International Meet which took place at the Royal Commonwealth Pool from Friday morning through to Sunday evening.
This meet attracted a large number of teams with around 20 teams from Europe including national swimmers from Denmark, Serbia and Spain, plus numerous teams from all parts of the UK. This ensured a very high standard and as such the objective for the Fins’ swimmers was to experience this level of competition with no expectations of reaching any of the finals. There were no age groups as such but there were junior finals for each event for girls 14 to 17 years and boys 15 to 18 years.
All four swimmers were in the junior categories and there was a bonus on the first day when 14 year old Erin Taylor made the junior final of the 200m Butterfly where she finished in 7th place. Erin was one of only three Scots to make the final, and was the only 14 year old to qualify, and more importantly she recorded an excellent 2.37 second PB.
The other three swimmers were Neža Dolenc-Luznar, Caitlyn Dodds, and Theo Goodfellow did well overall, with a few PBs and some swims within a second of their PB.
The previous Sunday a total of 41 Fins’ swimmers were at the Michael Wood Centre, Glenrothes, to compete in the Fife League and Fife Novice League. 17 swimmers competed in 24 swims in the Novice League, while 24 swimmers competed in 47 swims in the Fife League and they all produced some excellent performances.
In the Fife League 22 of the swimmers achieved 15 wins, 8 second placings, 5 thirds, and a further 14 top 10 finishes.
Although not the largest improvement, probably the most pleasing swim was achieved by 15 year old Neža Dolenc-Luznar who broke the one minute barrier for the first time in her 100m Freestyle, recording a time of 59.64 seconds, a PB of 1.07 seconds.
Six swimmers recorded PBs in double figures with the largest improvement coming from 13 year old Mark Scott who reduced his 200m Backstroke time by an outstanding 37.64 seconds. The remaining five were – Emma Lorrainsmith (14) who reduced her 100m Backstroke by 16.27 seconds; Holly Armit (13) who reduced her 50m Backstroke by 15.44 seconds; Heidi Mellon (12) who also reduced her 100m Backstroke, this time by 15.26 seconds; Fern Selbie (13) who reduced her 100m Freestyle by 13.25 seconds; and Steven Hardie (12) who reduced his 100m Breaststroke by 11.22 seconds.
The results from the league were –
Kristin Mackay, 9 to 11 years girls, 1st in both the 100m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke.
Esme Lee, 12/13 girls, 1st in both the 100m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke
Erin Taylor, 14/15 girls, 1st in both the 100m Butterfly and 50m Backstroke
Holly Armit, 12/13 girls, 1st – 50m Backstroke; 2nd – 100m Breaststroke
Mark Scott, 12/13 boys, 1st – 100m Backstroke; 2nd – 200m Backstroke
Erin O’Connor, 16/O girls, 1st – 50m Backstroke; 2nd – 100m Butterfly
Caitlyn Dodds, 16/O girls, 1st – 100m Butterfly; 2nd – 200m Backstroke
Catherine Comrie, 16/O girls, 1st – 100m Breaststroke; 2nd – 50m Backstroke
Theo Goodfellow, 16/O boys, 1st – 100m Breaststroke; 2nd – 50m Backstroke
Neža Dolenc-Luznar, 14/15 girls, 1st – 100m Freestyle; 3rd – 200m Backstroke
Arran Stowe, 16/O boys, 1st – 100m Butterfly; 4th – 50m Backstroke
Ben Lewis, 14/15 boys, 1st – 100m Freestyle; 6th – 200m Backstroke
Ana Doherty, 12/13 girls, 2nd – 50m Backstroke; 5th – 100m Butterfly
Euan Pate, 16/O boys, 2nd – 100m Freestyle; 5th – 50m Backstroke
Eireann Comrie, 16/O girls, 3rd in both the 100m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke
Steven Hardie, 12/13 boys, 3rd – 100m Breaststroke; 5th – 50m Backstroke
Blair Wardlaw, 14/15 boys, 3rd – 100m Backstroke; 7th – 20m Backstroke
Emilia Zajac, 9 to 11 girls, 4th in both the 100m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke
Kimberley McCabe, 16/O girls, 4th – 100m Backstroke; 8th 50m Backstroke
Ailsa Burns, 14/15 girls, 5th – 100m Breaststroke
Heidi Mellon, 12/13 girls, 6th – 50m Backstroke
Emma Lorrainsmith, 14/15 girls, 8th – 100m Backstroke.
The remaining swimmer was Georgia Johnston (12) who was competing in her first League and did well to gain a 12th place.
In the Novice League 10 of the 17 swimmers were competing for the first time and 6 of the remaining 7 were competing for the first time in a particular event. The one swimmer who did swim the same event as previously, 50m Backstroke, was Gemma Ewing who recorded a PB of 8.61 seconds. Overall the swimmers achieved three 3rd placings and a further 13 top 10 finishes.
The results of the Novice League were –
Ruby Learmonth, 9/U girls, 3rd – 25m Backstroke
Adam Selbie, 9/U boys, 3rd – 25m Freestyle
Gemma Ewing, 10/O girls, 3rd – 50m Backstroke
Ethan Hardie, 9/U boy, 4th – 25m Breaststroke; 5th – 50m Backstroke
Olivia Dutiaume, 10/O girls, 4th – 50m Breaststroke
Ava Reid, 9/U girls, 6th in both the 25m Butterfly and 50m Backstroke
Diego Franco, 10/O boys, 6th – 50m Backstroke
Arran McKinlay, 10/O boys, 6th – 50m Breaststroke
Irys Blair, 9/U girls, 7th – 25m Breaststroke
Callum McComskie, 10/O boys, 7th – 50m Butterfly
Niamh Doherty, 10/O girls, 9th – 50m Backstroke
Mairi Doherty, 10/O girls, 9th – 50m Breaststroke
Alastair Gordon, 10/O boys, 9th – 50m Butterfly
Matthew Aitken, 10/O boys, 10th – 50m Freestyle
The remaining swimmers who didn’t quite make a top 10 placing were Sophie Young (10/O), Charlotte Wardlaw (10/O), and Gabby Keary (10/O).