Fins had ten swimmers in action at the weekend (8th-10thMarch), two at Edinburgh and eight at Linwood.
Top performance of the weekend came from Erin Taylor at the Edinburgh International Meet, swimming in her first major meet as a senior swimmer.
Although Erin was outside her PBs she qualified for five B finals, the 200m butterfly, 100m breaststroke, 400m individual medley, 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. Erin Elected to swim in just two of the finals finishing 2nd in the 200m breaststroke ‘B’ final (10th overall), and was also 5th Scottish based swimmer; and 5th in the 400m individual medley ‘B’ final (13th overall) and was 7th Scottish based swimmer. Based on the swimmers taking part, including some Scottish Olympic/Commonwealth Games swimmers, including Katie Shanahan, who won silver in the 400m individual medley, Erin’s swims were an achievement in themselves. Erin also had another swim finishing 29th of 58 swimmers in the 50m breaststroke.
The other swimmer at Edinburgh was Kristin Mackay who is still 15 years old. Kristin swam in the 1500m freestyle and was quite a bit over her PB. However, this was not unusual at this meet as there were relatively few PBs recorded in all the events, and in both the Men’s and Women’s 1500m freestyle only 7 PBs were recorded from a total of 47 swims. Once again, an achievement to be swimming at this level at 15.
At Linwood, the younger swimmers had an excellent weekend, and the statistics emerging from the meet are very positive indeed. The eight swimmers competed in 38 individual swims and achieved 5 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals plus a further 18 top 10 finishes, and recorded 31PBs – 82% improvement rate. All swimmers achieved a top 10 finish. There were also 4 new entries to the Fins’ all-time top 50 rankings , plus a further 3 improvements.
In terms of points gained from the placings Fins finished as 8th best club out of 21 clubs competing. This is also quite an achievement as all of the clubs above them are much larger and included at least one regional squad.
The top achiever was Adam Selbie, 14 years boys. Adam won 3 gold, and 2 silver medals plus a 5th place finish. In addition, he also recorded the largest PB by a Fins’ swimmer during the weekend. Adam’s gold medals were won in the 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, and 400m individual medley; and his silver medals were in the 50m freestyle, and 100m freestyle; plus, he was 5th in the 200m butterfly.
Adam’s top PB was a reduction of 55.38 seconds, with a time of 5 minutes 15.52 seconds, in his 400m individual medley, which means he enters the top 50 in 34th place, the highest new entry. We therefore lose David McLaren, who set his time at Kirkcaldy in November 1991, which was likely to be the Fife Schools’ Championships. The new entry time for the men’s 400m individual medley is now 5 minutes 36.92 seconds.
Adam had one more entry to the top 50, this time in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1 minute 17.14 seconds, which reduced his previous best by 4.36 seconds, meaning he enters the top 50 in 39th place. The swimmer to move out on this occasion is John Rhinds who set his time at the Fife Leagues in February 2014. The entry time for the men’s 100m breaststroke now stands at 1 minute 20.40 seconds.
Adam also had two moves up the rankings including a move to the highest ranking achieved at the weekend with a PB of 1.18 seconds in his 100m backstroke, and a time of 1 minute 6.54 seconds, he moves from 40th place up to 31st. The entry time remains unchanged at 1 minute 9.54 seconds. Adams final move was in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2 minutes 45.70 seconds and a PB of 4.23 seconds he moves from 37th to 36th. I will return to the entry time shortly.
Caleb Gray, 11 to 13 boys, won a full set of medals, plus, with gold in the 200m butterfly, a silver in the 400m individual medley, and two bronze medals in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley. Caleb also finished 4th in the 400m freestyle with a PB of 14.30 seconds, and was 5th in the 200m backstroke.
Caleb was another entry to the top 50 with a 28.55 second PB in his 200m butterfly, recording a time of 2 minutes 49.35 seconds which entered him in 38th place. This means that Kyle Dammer drops out, having set his time in a time trial in February 1998. The new entry time for this event is now 3 minutes 25.56 seconds.
The final gold medal was won by Eva Watson, 13 girls, in the the 400m freestyle with a 6.38 second PB. Eva’s other placings were 8th in the 100m butterfly, 10th in both the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley, and 11th in the 200m freestyle.
Lilian
Lilian Blair, 11/13 girls, won two silver medals and they were achieved in the 200m individual medley and the 50m freestyle. Lilian won a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke. She also had a 4th place finish in the 200m backstroke and was 7th in the 200m freestyle. Lilian was in the middle of a 3 year age group and was the fastest 12 year old in all her swims except for the 200m freestyle and just missed out on that one by 0.29 second.
Ethan Pate, 13 boys, had two swims at the weekend and both resulted in silver medals. His two events were the 200m and 400m freestyle and both produced good PBs reducing his 200m freestyle by 9.78 seconds and his 400m freestyle by 9.51 seconds.
The final medal of the weekend, a bronze, was won by Irys Blair, 14 girls, in the 400m individual medley. Irys also finished 4th in the 200m backstroke, 6th in both the 200m individual medley and 200m freestyle, and was 10th in the 50m freestyle.
More importantly Irys achieved one improvement and one entry to the top 50 rankings. Her improvement came in the 200m backstroke, with a 1.62 second PB, which moves her from 42nd to 36th place. Irys’ entry, with a 3.17 second PB, and a time of 2 minutes 24.75 seconds, was in the 200m freestyle and enters the rankings in 49th place. The swimmer who is displaced Tianna Pease who set her time at the INCAS Distance meet in May 2017. The time now required for entry is 2 minutes 24.80 seconds.
Finnley McDonald, 15 boys, just missed out on a medal, by 0.09 seconds in the 100m breaststroke, to finish in 4th place. Finnley’s other swims resulted in the following placings – 6th – 200m freestyle; 7th – 100m freestyle; 9th in both the 200m individual medley and 50m breaststroke; 11th – 50m freestyle; and 14th – 50m backstroke.
The remaining swimmer is Jack Campbell, 11/13 boys, who had two swims at the weekend, finishing 7th in the 100m butterfly and 11th in the 50m backstroke.
There is an interesting situation with Finnley and Adam in the 100m freestyle, when both swimmers got close to the one minute mark. Currently Adam has just a slight advantage with a time of 1 minute 0.33 seconds, while Finnley recorded a time of 1 minute 0.64 seconds. So, the question is, who will break the one minute barrier first, or will both swimmers break it at their next competition?
Thanks to Yvonne Pate for supplying all three photos.
Missing from the photos is Kristin Mackay.
Ken White
Club Press Officer