Last Sunday, 7th May, was another very encouraging day for Fins’ swimmers competing in the 2nd round of the Fife Leagues, held at the Michael Woods Centre. This was certainly the case with the Novice League swimmers who doubled the wins recorded in round 1 and increased the number of top three placings by three. Overall the novice swimmers recorded a 96% improvement rate.

 

The League was not without its highlights with both Blair Wardlaw and Steven Pate overcoming the 1 minute barrier in the 100m freestyle for the first time. The improvement rate in the Leagues were down from round 1 but still very acceptable at 69%, and to be fair several of the non PBs were just a few hundredths of a second away and a few non PB swimmers recorded a win.

 

There were three new entries to Fins’ all time top 50 rankings plus two movements, with the top performance coming from Steven Pate who moves from 26th to 22nd place in the male 100m breaststroke with a 0.72 second PB.

The other movement was achieved by Grace Wilson who moves from 39th place to 38th place in the female 50m butterfly with a 0.23 second PB.

 

The top new entry was also achieved by Grace, this time in the 100m freestyle, at 43rd place. As mentioned previously, every new entry means that another Fins’ swimmer, or former swimmer, drops out and in this case, it was Kirsten Haig who achieved her time at the Fife Performance meet in May 2014, which in turn means that to achieve entry to the female 100m freestyle, a swimmer now must beat a time of 1 minute 6.57 seconds.

 

The next new entry was Charlotte Wardlaw who enters at equal 47th in the female 50m breaststroke, and was the most  improved Fins’ swimmer with an 11.27 second PB. This means Amanda Donald drops out, having achieved her time at Bellshill in September 1990, and the new entry time now stands at 40.66 seconds.

 

The final new entry was Blair Wardlaw in 48th place, in the male 100m freestyle, with a 1.49 second PB, which means Gavin Whyte drops out have recorded his time at Glenrothes in April 2007. The new entry time stands at 58.98 seconds, which means Steven Pate will be looking for a 0.58 second improvement, or better.

 

The next three best improvements, in addition to Charlotte, came from:

Eva Watson, who reduced her 200m individual medley time by 6.01 seconds,

Alastair Gordon, who reduced his 100m backstroke time by 5.09 seconds, and

Adam Selbie, who reduced hi 200m individual medley time by 3.50 seconds.

25 Fins’ swimmers competed in 50 swims, achieving 10 – 1st, 6 – 2nd, 4 – 3rd, and a further 21 swims in the top 6 placings

 

The full Fins’ league  results are:

Lilian Blair, 12/U girls, 1st in both the 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle

Eva Watson, 12/U girls, 1st in both the 50m butterfly and 200m individual medley

Ethan Pate, 12/U boys, 1st in both the 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle

Caleb Gray, 12/U boys, 1st – 100m freestyle; 2nd – 50m backstroke

Irys Blair, 13/14 girls, 1st – 50m freestyle; 2nd – 100m backstroke

Adam Selbie, 13/14 boys, 1st – 200m individual medley; 2nd – 100m butterfly

Steven Pate, 15/O boys, 1st – 50m breaststroke; 4th – 100m freestyle

Blair Wardlaw, 15/O boys, 2nd – 100m freestyle; 3rd – 50m butterfly

Millie Whytock, 12/U girls, 2nd – 200m freestyle; 3rd – 50m butterfly

Blake Goldie, 13/14 boys, 2nd – 50m freestyle; 7th – 100m freestyle

Medeea-Miriam Gorea, 13/14 girls, 3rd – 100m freestyle; 4th – 50m butterfly

Charlotte Wardlaw, 15/O girls, 3rd – 200m breaststroke, 4th – 50m breaststroke

Grace Wilson, 15/O girls, 3rd – 50m butterfly; 5th – 100m freestyle

Ellen McLaughlin, 15/O girls, 4th – 100m backstroke; 5th – 50m freestyle

Campbell Rae, 15/O boys, 4th – 50m breaststroke; 6th – 100m breaststroke

Jennifer Gordon, 15/O girls, 4th – 50m butterfly; 7th – 100m freestyle

Heidi Mellon, 15/O girls, 4th – 100m breaststroke; 9th – 50m backstroke

Jack Campbell, 12/U boys, 5th – 100m backstroke; 5th – 50m freestyle

Jakub Bogucki, 13/14 boys, 5th – 50m breaststroke; 5th – 50m backstroke

Jessica Christie, 12/U girls, 5th – 100m breaststroke; 7th – 50m butterfly

Alastair Gordon, 15/O boys, 5th – 100m backstroke; 7th – 50m backstroke

Kimberley McCabe, 15/O girls, 5th – 100m breaststroke; 8th – 50m backstroke

Wiktor Bak, 15/O boys, 6th – 50m freestyle; 6th – 200m freestyle

Abby Morris, 15/O girls, 7th – 50m freestyle; 9th – 100m backstroke

Lexi Blair, 13/14 girls, 11th in both the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle.

 

In addition to individual swims four relay teams were in action with the top placed team being the 13/14 years Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay who comprised – Medeea, Irys, Jakub, and Adam, finished 2nd.

In the 12 and under relay the team of – Lilian, Millie, Caleb, and Ethan, finished 3rd.

In the 15 and over Fins had two teams with the ‘A’ team of Grace, Kimberley, Steven and Blair finishing in 5tj place, while the ‘B’ team of Ellen, Jennifer, Alastair, and Campbell finished 8th.

 

 

In the Round 1 Novice League report it was stated that this must be one of best, or perhaps, the best performance, from Fins’ novice swimmers, at a Fife Novice League.  However, round 2 certainly exceeded the round 1 performance.

 

14 Novice League swimmers competed, with 7 achieving a win, a further 4 achieved a 2nd place, while the remaining 3 all achieved a 4th place finish.

 

The swimmers contested 27 individual swims resulting in 8 – 1st, 6 – 2nd, and 4 – 3rd placings.

 

Two swimmers made their debut, Leyton Neilson, and Wilfred Mitchell, and while most of the swimmers who competed in Round 1 competed in a different event in Round 2, there were a few who swum the same event.

 

The full Fins’ Novice League results are:

Elliot Blair,8 to 10 boys, 1st in both the 25m breaststroke and 50m freestyle

Cole Gray, 11/12 boys, 1st – 25m butterfly; 2nd – 50m freestyle

Charlie Jack, 8 to 10 boys 1st – 50m breaststroke; 3rd – 25m backstroke

Bryony Smart, 8 to 10 girls, 1st – 25m butterfly; 3rd – 50m backstroke

Bailey Salmond-Will, 11/12 boys, 1st – 25m breaststroke; 3rd – 50m breaststroke

Grace Mills, 8 to 10 girls, 1st – 25m backstroke; 5th – 50m freestyle

Samuel Dick, 11/12 boys, 1st – 25m backstroke; 7th – 50m backstroke

Ella Reid, 8 to 10 girls, 2nd in both the 50m backstroke and 25m freestyle

Leyton Neilson, 8 to 10 boys, 2nd – 25m freestyle; 3rd – 50m backstroke

Lily Bonnar, 11/12 girls, 2nd – 25m freestyle, 5th – 25m breaststroke

Amelie Page, 11/12 girls, 2nd – 25m butterfly; 7th – 50m freestyle

Summer Ramshaw, 11/12 girls, 4th – 25m backstroke; 6th – 50m breaststroke

Chelsea Walker, 8 to 10 girls, 4th – 25m breaststroke; 12th -50m backstroke

Wilfred Mitchell, 11/12 boys, 4th – 25m backstroke.

 

In addition to the individual swims there were also two Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relays.

The 8 to 10 age group team of Ella, Chelsea, Charlie, and Elliot finished in 5th place, and the 11/12 age group team of Summer, Bryony, Samuel, and Cole finished in 8th place.

 

Again, very well done to all the swimmers, and their coaches.

 

Ken White
Club Press Officer