The Hearts meet was held over two days at the Michael Woods Centre Glenrothes, on 28 February and 1 March.

Fins were represented by 15 swimmers who competed in a total of 69 swims, recording 48 PBs which gives them a reasonable 70% improvement rate. The times recorded by the swimmers impacted Fins’ all-time top 50 rankings on 18 occasions, including three new entries, and there was one no change

In terms of finishing positions the swimmers achieved 7 – 1st, 6 – 2nd, and 4 -3rd placings, plus a further 28 top 10 finishes.

In terms of top Fins’ swimmer the Hearts meet turned out to be a family affair with the Blair family taking the three top places with the top swimmer being Lilian Blair, 13 years female, who achieved three 1st places in her 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke, and 200m butterfly, plus she was 2nd in both the 100m and 200m freestyle.

In her 50m freestyle a 0.30 second reduction in her time moves her from 21st to 18th in Fins top 50 rankings. In her 200m butterfly, Lilian recorded a 1.80 second PB to move from 22nd to 19th; in her 200m freestyle she reduced her previous best by 3.01 seconds to move from 32nd to 23rd; in her 100m backstroke she reduced her time by 0.25 seconds moving her from 30th to 27th; and in her 100m freestyle she remains in 16th place despite a 0.10 second PB

Irys Blair, 15 years female, won her 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley, was 2nd in her 200m butterfly, and 9th in the 100m freestyle. Irys reached the highest position in the rankings in her 100m backstroke where a 1.99 second PB moved her from 16th to 15th, and in her 200m butterfly Irys recorded the 3rd largest PB, by a Fins’ swimmer, of 8.37 seconds, resulting in her moving from 35th to 28th.

Elliot Blair, 12 years male, was 1st in the 50m backstroke, and 200m individual medley, 3rd in the 100m backstroke, 4th in the 200m freestyle, 6th in both the 100m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, and 7th in the 100m breaststroke. At 12 year old, Elliot is still quite a bit away from the

top 50 ranking entry times, but with a few PBs, including the 5th largest in the 200m freestyle, of 6.95 seconds he is getting closer.

Millie Whytock, 13 years female, had three 2nd and two 3rd placings, with the 2nd places coming in the 200m and 400m individual medley, and the 400m freestyle, while the 3rd places came in the 100m and 200m freestyle.

Millie’s 100m freestyle produced a 1.53 second PB, which in turn moved her from 37th to 23rd in the rankings. In her 200m freestyle a 3.51 second PB moved Millie from 42nd to 25th. In her 400m individual medley Millie recorded a 2.93 second PB moving her from 30th to 27th, and in her 400m freestyle a 1.09 second PB moved her from 31st to 29th.400m 400

Harvey Whytock, 16 years male, was 2nd in the 200m butterfly, 16th in the 50m butterfly and 19th in the 100m freestyle. With his time of 2 minutes 35.52 seconds in his 200m butterfly Harvey moves into the rankings in 32nd place and as a result out goes Adam Scott who set his time at Carnegie in October 2011. The entry time for the 200m butterfly now stands at 3 minutes 10.16 seconds.

Caleb Gray, 14 years male, was 3rd in the 400 individual medley, 4th in 200m backstroke, 5th in 200m butterfly, 6th in 100m freestyle, 9th in 100m backstroke, and 19th in 50m freestyle. In his 200m butterfly Caleb recorded a 3.48 second PB and this moved him from 38th to 37th in the rankings. In his 400m individual medley Caleb achieved a 5.60 second PB which moved him from 47th to 41st in the rankings. Caleb was also one of the new entrants to the ranking in the 200m backstroke in 44th place. As a result we lose Callum Smith from the rankings, who set his time at Incas distance meet in May 2012. The time now required to enter this ranking now stands at 2 minutes 33.34 seconds.

Eva Watson, 14 years female, was 4th in both the 200m and 400m freestyle and 6th in the 100m freestyle. In her 400m freestyle Eva just missed out on a 3rd place by 0.21 seconds, but a 0.64 second PB was enough to move her up one place in the rankings from 27th to 26th. there was a similar result in her 200m freestyle where Eva moved up one place from 41st to 40th with a 0.57 second PB. Eva was also an entrant to the rankings in 33rd place in the 100m freestyle with a 5.61 second PB. This time the swimmer to leave the rankings is Emma Lamont who set her time at Glenrothes in February 2002. The time now required to enter this ranking is 1 minute 6.08 seconds.

Ethan Pate, 14 years male, was 4th – 400m individual medley; 5th – 200m freestyle; 7th in both the 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke; 10th – 100m butterfly; and 12th – 50m freestyle. In his 400m individual medley Ethan recorded a 2.25 second PB which moved him from 46th to 44th in the rankings.

Cole Gray, 13 years male, was 4th in the 200m individual medley; 6th – 50 freestyle; and 7th – 200m freestyle. Cole’s top PB was 2.60 seconds in his 200m individual medley but is not quite at the point where he could move into the rankings.

Sadie Paton, 13 years female, was 5th in the 50m breaststroke; 9th in both the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke; 10th – 400m freestyle; 11th – 50m backstroke, and 13th – 50m freestyle. Sadie recorded the 6th largest PB by a Fins’ swimmer by reducing her previous best time for the 200m backstroke by 6.32 seconds.

Summer Ramshaw, 13 years female, was 6th in the 50m breaststroke, 10th – 50m backstroke; 12th – 100m breaststroke; 15th – 50m freestyle; and 19th – 100m backstroke. Summer had a range of PBs from 6 one hundredths of a second in her 50m backstroke to a 4.91 second reduction in her 100m breaststroke.

Leyton Neilson, 12 years male, was 7th in the 50m freestyle, and 12th in the 200m freestyle. Leyton’s top PB was a 1.38 second reduction in his 200m freestyle.

Jack Campbell, 14 years male, was 9th in the 100m breaststroke, 11th in both the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly; 12th – 50m backstroke; 13th – 100m backstroke; 14th – 50m butterfly; 19th – 50m breaststroke; and 25th – 50 m freestyle. All Jack’s swims were very close to his PBs including a PB of 4 one hundredths of a second in his 50m freestyle to equalling his PB in the 50m backstroke and missing out on a PB by 0.21 seconds in his 100m backstroke.

Lily-Mae McDonald, 11 years female, was 11th in the 100m butterfly; 16th in both the 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle; 18th – 100m breaststroke; and 24th – 100m freestyle. Lily-Mae recorded the 4th largest PB by reducing her previous best for her 200m freestyle by 6.95 seconds.

Chelsea Walker, 12 years female, was 21st in the 100m backstroke, which was her only swim and she had a satisfactory outcome by recording a 1.52 second PB.

Not all swimmers are at the stage where they are looking to achieve entry to the rankings but this meet must be one of the best in this regard, especially with three new entries, which we haven’t had for a while. It should also be remembered that for every new entry the time for any more new entries gets tighter.

I also think that Ian Lewis and his team of coaches deserve a mention fot the work they are doing it getting the swimmers to the level they are at.

Well done again to all the swimmers who took part. I believe this was a really successful meet.

 

Ken White

Club Press Officer