Eighteen Fins’ swimmers were back at the Michael Woods Centre last Saturday for the Glenrothes Spring Meet, which attracted a number of clubs from various parts of the country, including Angus, Lanarkshire, Midlothian, West Lothian and Fife. Together with the results from the Fife League, held the previous Sunday, Fins’ swimmers exceeded all expectations and set a new high for the club, much to the delight of head coach, Ian Lewis and depute head coach Iain MacDonald.
While the improvement rate was down slightly on the previous week, at 72%, the achievement was very significant as the results provided the club with the highest ever number of times in the top ten Scottish Age Group Short Course Rankings, amounting to 30 in total. There are also a further 27 times in the top 20.
The achievements in the meet itself were also exceptional with a new club record for the second week in a row, three Top Swimmer Awards and, despite being one of the smallest Clubs competing, the Top Club Award. The Top Swimmer and Top Club Awards were decided by a points system that awarded 9 points for a win, 7 for second and then reducing by one point all the way down to one point for 8th place.
Also for the first time in many years Fins’ swimmers recorded a 1-2-3 in the 11/12 girls 100m Butterfly.
The new club record was once again set by Caitlyn Dodds, this time in the 100m Individual Medley. Her time of 1 minute 7.68 seconds reduced the previous record by 0.12 seconds. This record had been set by Ashley Warrender, at the Scottish East District Open Championships, in Glenrothes, in October 2004.
The three Top Swimmer Awards were won by – Sophie Juskowiak, 11/12 girls; Caitlyn Dodds, 15/17 girls; and Theo Goodfellow, 15/17 boys.
67% of the swimmers won a medal with 50% winning gold. The 18 swimmers competed in 60 swims and won a total of 18 gold medals, 7 silver, 5 bronze, and had 25 top 10 placings.
Apart from the 8/10 year age groups all swims were 100 metres.
Caitlyn Dodds, 15/17 girls, was Fins top swimmer at the meet. She competed in five swims and won five gold medals in the Individual Medley; Backstroke; Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle.
Theo Goodfellow, 15/17 boys, won three gold and two silver medals with the golds coming in the Individual Medley; Breaststroke; and Freestyle. The silver medals were in the Butterfly and Backstroke.
Sophie Juskowiak, 11/12 girls, won gold medals in the Individual Medley and Breaststroke; a silver medal in the Butterfly; a bronze medal in the Freestyle and a 4th place in the Backstroke.
Neža Dolenc-Luznar, 13/14 girls, won gold medals in both the Butterfly and Freestyle and silver in the Individual Medley
Michael Strang, 13/14 boys, won gold medals in both the Butterfly and Freestyle and silver in the Individual Medley
Erin Taylor, 11/12 girls, won a gold medal in the Butterfly and silver in the Individual Medley
Esme Lee, 11/12 girls, won a gold medal in the Backstroke; a bronze in the Butterfly and was placed 4th in the Individual Medley, Breaststroke and Freestyle
Euan Pate, 15/17 boys, won a gold medal in the Butterfly; was 4th in both the Individual Medley and Breaststroke; and 5th in Backstroke.
Sam Lewis, 15/17 boys, won the remaining gold medal in the Backstroke and was 4th in the Butterfly.
The remaining medallists and top ten finishers were –
Claire Thomson, 15/17 girls, silver – Backstroke; bronze – Butterfly
Holly Armit, 11/12 girls, bronze – Breaststroke; 7th in both the Individual Medley and Freestyle
Steven Hardie, 8/10 boys, bronze – 50m Breaststroke
Rhianna Henderson, 11/12 girls, 5th – Backstroke; 6th – Individual Medley and Breaststroke; 8th – Freestyle
Eireann Comrie, 13/14 girls, 5th – Breaststroke; 6th – Butterfly and Backstroke
Erin O’Connor, 13/14 girls, 5th – Backstroke; 6th – Freestyle; 7th – Individual Medley; 9th Breaststroke
Peter Strong, 15/17 boys, 5th – Individual Medley; 6th – Freestyle
Kimberley McCabe, 15/17 girls, 9th – Breaststroke; 10th – 100 Freestyle
Unfortunately, the remaining swimmer, Emma Lorrainsmith, 11/12 girls, did not quite make a top ten placing but it certainly was not due to any lack of effort as a 4.36 second PB in her Breaststroke moved her up to 12th place.
The top four improvements were –
Rhianna, who reduced her Breaststroke by 7.86 seconds
Esme, who reduced her Individual Medley by 7.25 seconds and her Butterfly by 5.40 seconds.
Holly, who reduced her Individual Medley by 5.00 seconds.
The hard work of the swimmers and coaches in training has certainly paid off as seen in the latest Scottish Age Group Short Course rankings which shows a tremendous increase in the number of Fins swimmers. Even more pleasing is that although many swimmers’ birthdays are not until near the end of the year they are well placed. The rankings are based on their age on 31 December 2018.
The rankings achieve are:
Esme Lee, 12 years girls, 2nd – 100m Individual Medley; 2nd – 100m Backstroke; 2nd – 200m Breaststroke; 4th – 100m Butterfly; 7th – 200m Backstroke; 8th in both the 100m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle. She also has three further placings in the top 20. Esme was ranked 1st in the 200m Breaststroke, until 17 March, but was overtaken by Anglo-Scot, Isabella Thomson from Swindon, by 0.27 seconds.
Caitlyn Dodds, 16 years girls, 2nd – 50m Backstroke; 3rd in the 100m and 200m Backstroke, and the 100m Butterfly; 5th – 100m Individual Medley. Caitlyn also has five further placing in the top 20.
Holly Armit, 12 years girls, 5th in both the 100m Individual Medley and 100m Breaststroke; 6th – 200m Breaststroke; plus, a further two rankings in the top 20.
Sophie Juskowiak, 13 years girls, 5th in both 50m Breaststroke and 100m Individual Medley; 7th – 200m Breaststroke; 8th – 100m Breaststroke; plus, a further two rankings in the top 20.
Theo Goodfellow, 16 years boys, 5th –100m Breaststroke; 6th in both the 50m and 200m Breaststroke.
Neža Dolenc-Luznar, 14 years girls, 5th – 100m Butterfly; 7th – 100m Freestyle; 8th – 100m Individual Medley; 9th – 200m Butterfly; 10th – 200m Freestyle; plus, a further three rankings in the top 20.
Erin Taylor, 13 years girls, 7th – 100m Individual Medley; 8th – !00m Butterfly
In addition to the swimmers above four other swimmers have times that place them in the top 20 rankings. These are –
Mark Scott, 12 years boys, 6 times in top 20; Claire Thomson, 17 years girls, 3 times; Ben Lewis, 14 years boys, 2 times; Sam Lewis, 17 boys, 1 time.
Although not in the short course category 19 year old Arran Stowe, Senior swimmer, is ranked 4th overall in Scotland for Open Water Swimming.