Glenrothes Spring Meet 17th and 18th February 2024

The 2024 Glenrothes Spring Meet was held at the Michael Woods Centre, Glenrothes, over two days, 17/18 February, 2024, and each day accommodated different age groups and events. On Saturday, ages ranged from 11 to 17 with swimmers able to swim a 100m in each of the four individual strokes plus a 200m individual medley.

 

On Sunday the ages ranged from 8 years and under, up to 12 years with swimmers able to swim 50m in each of the four individual strokes plus a 100m individual medley. The one condition was that 11/12 years swimmers could either swim on the Saturday OR the Sunday but not both.

 

Fins had a total of 24 swimmers over the two days, 13 on the Saturday and 11 on the Sunday, with all the swimmers producing another successful weekend.

 

The statistics for the Saturday were once again very impressive with the 13 swimmers contesting 52 swims from which they achieved a total of 41 PBs with every swimmer gaining at least one PB

 

Two swimmers entered the Fins all-time top 50 short course rankings with the top performance coming from Adam Selbie, 13/14 boys, who enters the 200m individual medley in 46^th place, with a 4.41 second PB. Not too far behind, also in the individual medley Steven Pate 15/17 boys enters three places behind Adam in 49^th place, with a 1.40 second PB. The two swimmers to drop out of the top 50 are Blair Wardlaw and John Scott. Blair is currently a squad member and set his time at the Fife leagues in September 2019 so he may have an opportunity to return to the top 50, soon.  However, John’s time goes back a bit further having set his time at Glenrothes in August 1997.

 

The entry time now required for this event is 2 minutes 30.34 seconds which is  a reduction of 0.97 seconds.

 

The top five PBs were all recorded by 11/12 year old boys. The top improver was Jack Campbell, who had three top PBs, reducing his individual medley by 13.67 seconds, his butterfly by 6.55 seconds and his backstroke by 6.44 seconds.  Cole Gray, also reduced his individual medley time, this time by 8.37 seconds, and Caleb Gray who reduced his breaststroke by 7.02 seconds.

 

31 of the 52 swims achieved a top 10 finish, with 10 of the 13 swimmers gaining at least one top 10 finish, and this included three silver and six bronze medals.

 

The top finisher was Ethan Pate, 11/12 boys, with silver medals in both the butterfly and backstroke and bronze medals in both the freestyle and individual medley. Ethan was also 5^th in the breaststroke.

 

The remaining silver medal was won by Adam in the individual medley. Adam also finished 5^th in the breaststroke and 6^th in the freestyle.

 

Lillian Blair, 11/12 girls, won two bronze medals in the breaststroke and individual medley, and was 4^th in both the butterfly and backstroke, and 5^th in the freestyle.

 

Caleb won a bronze medal in the breaststroke and was 4^th in the individual medley, butterfly and backstroke, and 5^th in the freestyle.

 

Steven won a bronze in the breaststroke, and was 5^th in both the individual medley and freestyle.

 

Finnley McDonald won the remaining bronze medal in the butterfly, and was 5^th in the backstroke, 6^th in the individual medley, and 7^th in both the freestyle and breaststroke.

 

The remaining swimmers who achieved a top 10 finish were:

Irys Blair, 13/14 girls, 6^th – butterfly; 8^th – backstroke; 9^th – individual medley; 13^th – freestyle; and 18^th – breaststroke.

Jack, 8^th – butterfly, 13th – individual medley; 16^th – backstroke; and 18^th – freestyle.

Cole, 10^th – breaststroke;13^th – butterfly; 15^th – both individual medley and backstroke; and 17^th – freestyle.

Abby Morris, 15/17 girls, 10^th – butterfly; 15^th individual medley; 20^th – freestyle.

 

The swimmers who finished outside the top 10 were:

Millie Whytock, 11/12 girls, 12^th – backstroke; 13^th – individual medley; and 24^th – freestyle.

Dmitri Tincovan, 11/12 boys, 15^th – butterfly, 18^th in both the backstroke and individual medley; and 24^th – freestyle.

Bryony Smart, 11/12 girls, 40^th – backstroke; 49^th – freestyle.

 

 

 

The statistics for the Sunday swimmers were also very impressive with the 11 swimmers competing in 33 swims and recording a total of 31 PBs, with the top three being achieved by:

Chelsea Walker, 9/10 girls, who reduced her 50m backstroke time by 17.30 seconds.

Grace Mills, 11/12 girls, who reduced her 100m individual medley time by 14.85 seconds, and

Leyton Neilson, 9/10 boys, who reduced his 50m breaststroke by 11.52 seconds.

 

Leyton also won a bronze medal in the freestyle, was 8^th in the breaststroke; 9^th in the backstroke, and 12^th in the butterfly

The other results for the younger swimmers were:

Elliot Blair, 9/10 boys, 4^th – backstroke; 6^th – freestyle;  7th – breaststroke; and 8^th – individual medley.

Charlie Jack, 6^th – breaststroke; 16^th – individual medley; and 23^rd – freestyle.

Grace, 7^th – backstroke; 8^th in both the breaststroke and individual medley; 11^th – freestyle; and 14^th – butterfly.

Lily-Mae McDonald, 9/10 girls, 11^th – freestyle; 15^th backstroke; and 17^th – breaststroke.

Summer Ramshaw, 11/12 girls, 13^th – breaststroke; 14^th – freestyle

Antonia Adie, 9/10 girls, 13^th – freestyle; 16^th – individual medley.

Chelsea, 14^th in both the backstroke and breaststroke; and 16^th in freestyle.

Lily Bonnar, 11/12 girls, 16^th – breaststroke; 20th – backstroke.

Olivia Bak, 9/10 girls, 17^th – freestyle; 23^rd backstroke

Olivia Hataway, 11/12 girls, 21^st – backstroke; 24^th – breaststroke; and 26^th – freestyle.

 

 

What stands out from the meet is that there is a broad base of swimmers, male and female in the 9 to 12 years age groups, with a considerable potential to do well. So, although it is not always possible to record a PB every time, the more times you can beat your previous best the further along the pathway to success you will travel.

 

Keep up the good work and see what happens.

 

Photos by Yvonne Pate

Words by Ken White