Hearts and Glenrothes Meets – 22/23 February 2025

Fins’ swimmers competed in two competitions last weekend. On Saturday, 11 swimmers competed in the Hearts Meet at the Excite Leisure Centre Bathgate, while on the Sunday, 16 swimmers competed in the Glenrothes Spring Meet at the Michael Woods Centre.

Both meets were successful for the swimmers, but in different ways. The Hearts meet produced 22 PBs from 38 swims, 58% improvement, with 8 swimmers winning at least one top 3 finish and 35 of the 38 swims gained a top 10 placing.

At Glenrothes the 16 swimmers contested 56 swims and achieved 43 PBs, 77% improvement. Three swimmers gained a top 3 finish, with 11 swimmers achieving a top 10 placing.

Both meets saw a change to the Fins’ all-time top 50 rankings, and based on the rankings the top performance at the Hearts Meet was by Adam Selbie, 14 years male, who won the 200m freestyle to move from 28^th place to 22^nd place in the rankings. Adam also had the largest movement in the rankings, moving from 34^th to 23^rd in winning the 100m butterfly. Adam was also 2^nd in the 200m individual medley, again recording a PB which moves him from 35^th to 32^nd in the rankings.

In terms of achievement, with two wins and two 2^nd placings, the top swimmer was Lilian Blair, 10/12 female, who also recorded the 3^rd largest PB of 13.98 seconds in winning the 200m backstroke, which also gained her entry to the Fins rankings in 49^th place. This in turn means we lose a swimmer, Angela Bathgate, who recorded her time at Kirkcaldy in March 1994. Lilian’s other win was in the 200m freestyle. Lilian gained a 2^nd placing in the 50m freestyle with a PB of 0.30 second, and this moved her from 50^th place to 42^nd in the rankings. Although this was not a new entry we do lose another swimmer from the rankings, Megan Ovens, who was previously tied in 50^th spot with Lilian. Megan set her time at the Falkirk Integrated Regional Swim Team meet in January 2017. Lilian’s other 2^nd place came in the 200m breaststroke. The result of the above changes means that the entry times for the rankings are now – 50m freestyle – 30.82 seconds; and 200m backstroke – 2 minutes 41.46 seconds,

Ethan Pate, 13 years male, was 1^st in both the 100m and 200m freestyle, although both times does not quite make the entry time for the rankings. Ethan also gained a 2^nd place in the 100m butterfly, a 3^rd place in the 200m individual medley, and was 6^th in the 50m freestyle.

Millie Whytock, 10/12 female, won the 100m backstroke, recording a 4.44 second PB, which gains entry to the rankings in 47^th place. The swimmer to lose out on this occasion is a member of the current squads, Kristen Mackay, who set her time at the Dunedin Challenge Meet in September 2023. The entry time now stands at 1 minute 16.47 seconds. Millie’s PB was not her largest but unfortunately her other times, while moving closer are still short of the entry times for the rankings. Nevertheless, Millie did well to finish 2^nd in both the 200m backstroke and 200m freestyle, and 4^th in both the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle.

Cole Gray 10/12 male, was 1^st in the 200m backstroke, 2^nd in the 200m butterfly, and 3^rd in the 200m freestyle. None of his time make the entry time for the rankings, but he did record the two largest PBs by a Fins’ swimmer at the meet and both were excellent. The largest PB was 36.48 seconds in the 200m butterfly, with the second largest being 28.52 seconds in the 200m freestyle.

The final two swims that had an impact on the rankings came from Irys Blair, 14 years female. A 0.90 second PB was enough to gain 1^st place in the 200m individual medley and move Irys from 35^th to 31^st in the rankings. Irys was also 5^th in both the 50m and 100m freestyle, and a 2.07 second PB in the 100m freestyle gains her entry to the rankings in 46^th place. The swimmer dropping out on this occasion is Louise King who recorded her time at Glenrothes in October 1995, and the new entry time is now 1 minute 6.30 seconds.

Caleb Gray, 13 years male, was 2^nd in the 200m butterfly, with a 1.59 second PB, which was within rankings but had no effect on his position and remains in 38^th. Caleb was 3^rd in the 200m backstroke, and 5^th in both the 200m freestyle and 200m breaststroke.

The final top 3 placing was achieved by Elliot Blair, 10/12 years male, who gained 3^rd in the 200m backstroke. Elliot was also 5^th in the 200m breaststroke, and 10^th in the 200m individual medley. Elliot had a very good meet recording the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th largest PBs, 11.87 seconds in the 200m breaststroke; 11.36 seconds in the 200m backstroke; and 8.73 seconds in the 200m individual medley.

Just missing out on two top 3 finishes was Kristin Mackay, 15/over female, who was 4^th in both the 100m breaststroke and 200m butterfly. Kristin was also 7^th in both the 200m freestyle and 200m breaststroke.

The remaining two swimmers were Sadie Paton 10/12 years female, and Finnley McDonald, 15/0 male. Sadie was 8^th in the 200m freestyle and 11^th in the 200m backstroke, with Finnley finishing12th in the 100m backstroke and 17^th in the 50m freestyle.

At the Glenrothes meet, only one swimmer made an impact on Fins’ top 50 rankings and was also the top achiever, and that was Lilian Blair, 11/12 female. Lilian won all of her five swims, all in PBs, with four changing the top 50 rankings. The largest change came in the 100m freestyle where Lilian improved her position by 18 places from 45^th to 27^th, with a 1.22 second PB. Lilian’s highest entry and largest PB of 5.16 seconds came in the 100m breaststroke where her time of 1 minute 24.33 seconds puts her in 32^nd place. This in turn means that we lose Jacqui Thow who recorded her time at Glenrothes in March 2003, and the entry time now stands at 1 minute 26.98 seconds. In her 100m backstroke Lilian moves from 50^th to 45^th with a 2.09 second PB, and in the 200m individual medley she enters the rankings in 45^th. We therefore lose Jacqui Rafferty, who set her time at Whitburn in April 1989, and the new entry time now stands at 2 minutes 43.54 seconds.

The only other winner was Cole Gray, 11/12 male, who won the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle. Cole’s 100 backstroke produced the 4^th largest Fins’ PB of 8.09 seconds. Cole was also 2^nd in the 100 butterfly and 7^th in the 100m breaststroke.

The only other top 3 finish was achieved by Harvey Whytock, 13/14 male, who was 3^rd in the 100m butterfly. Harvey also finished 9^th in the 100m freestyle, 10^th in the 100m breaststroke, and 15^th in the 100m backstroke.

Caleb Gray, 13/14 male, had five swims, all PBs and all between 2 and 3 seconds, finishing 4^th in the 200m individual medley; 7^th in the 100m breaststroke; 9^th in the 100m backstroke; 11^th in the 100m butterfly; and15th in the 100m freestyle.

Ethan Pate, 13/14 male, with four PBs from five swims, was 5^th in the 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, and 100m backstroke. He was also 8^th in the 100m butterfly, and 15^th in the 100m breaststroke.

Finnley McDonald, 15/17 male, also recorded four PBs from five swims, finishing 5^th in the 200m individual medley; 6^th in the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly; 7^th in the 100m freestyle; and 8^th in the 100m backstroke.

Irys Blair, 13/14 female, finished 5^th in the 100m butterfly; and 6^th in the 100m breaststroke.

Elliot Blair, 11/12 male, was 6^th in the 200m individual medley; 7^th in both the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke, and in the backstroke he recorded the 6^th largest PB of 6.10 seconds. Elliot also finished 13^th in the 100m freestyle and 14^th in the 100m breaststroke.

Lacey Donald, 15/17 female, was 7^th in the 200m individual medley; 8^th in the 100m freestyle; and 9^th in the 200m backstroke.

Sadie Paton, 11/12 female, was 7^th in the 100m breaststroke; 9^th in the 100m butterfly; 10^th in the 200m individual medley; and 21^st in the 100m freestyle. In the individual medley Sadie recorded the 3^rd largest PB of 7.81 seconds.

Wiktor Bak, 15/17 male, was 7^th in the 100m butterfly and 11^th in the 100m backstroke.

Jack Campbell, 13/14 male, had four PBs from five swims including the 2^nd and 3^rd largest. Jack finished 14^th in both the 100fly and 200m individual medley; 18^th in the 200m backstroke; and 21^st in both the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle. The second largest Fins’ PB came in the individual medley where Jack reduced his previous best by 10.97 seconds; and the third largest PB was in the 100m breaststroke, which Jack reduced by 9.97 seconds.

Grace Mills, 11/12 female, had one swim, finishing 16^th in the 100m freestyle.

Olivia Hathaway, 11/12 female, was 20^th in the 100m breaststroke, and 32^nd in the 100m freestyle.

Chelsea Walker, 11/12 female, was 26^th in both the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle, and was 27^th in the 100m breaststroke.

Lily Bonnar, 11/12 girls, had just one swim but certainly made the most of it recording the largest Fins’ PB of the meet when she reduced her time for the 100m freestyle by 14.57 seconds, finishing in 31^st place.

A lot of swims recently, and also coming up, so it is really good to see the continued improvement that is being made.

Ken White,
Club Press Officer