Last weekend twelve Fins’ swimmers were through in the West of Scotland competing in the REN96 Open meet held at the On-X Sports Centre in Linwood.

The meet attracted a large, high standard, entry and despite some indifferent performances by Fins’ swimmers there were also some very impressive swims and they did well to return with 6 gold, 8 silver, and 5 bronze medals, plus a further 14 top 10 finishes, from 52 swims. Six of the twelve swimmers won at least one medal and a further four gained a top 10 placing.

The top swimmer for Fins was Erin Taylor, 12/13 girls, who recorded a PB in all but one of her seven swims, two of which were in the top three. Erin won 4 gold medals in her 100m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke and the 200m and 400m Individual Medley.  She also won a silver medal in the 200m Freestyle, and finished 5th in the 100m Freestyle and 6th in the 50m Freestyle. More pleasing is that Erin is now ranked 2nd in Scotland for her 400m Individual Medley, 3rd in both the100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke, and 7th in her 200m Individual Medley.

The other two gold medals were won by Arran Stowe, 16/O boys, in the 200m an 400m Individual Medley. Arran also won a bronze medal in the 200m Freestyle, and finished 5th in the 100m Freestyle, 8th in the 400m Freestyle and 10th in the 50m Freestyle.

Caitlyn Dodds, 14/15 girls, was extremely unfortunate not to win a gold, just missing out on five, with silver medals in her 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley, 100m Butterfly, 100m Backstroke, and 50m Freestyle. She also won a bronze medal for the 100m Freestyle and finished 6th in the 200m Freestyle. Caitlyn improved on her Scottish rankings, especially in her 100m Butterfly, moving up three places to 3rd overall. Her time of 1 minute 5.93 seconds also takes her to within 1.29 seconds of the clubs longest standing record. In addition to her Butterfly she is ranked 3rd in both 100m and 200m Backstroke, and 8th in the 50m Freestyle.

Kyle Pate, 16/O boys, won silver and bronze medals with his silver coming in the 200m Backstroke and his bronze in the 100m Backstroke. Kyle also finished 4th in the 100m Breaststroke and 9th in the 50m Freestyle.

Another swimmer to win a silver and bronze medal was Theo Goodfellow, 16/O boys, who won silver in the 200m Breaststroke and bronze in the 100m Breaststroke, just edging out Kyle. Theo also finished 7th in the 200m Individual Medley where he recorded Fins’ largest PB of the weekend with a time of 2 min. 23.09 seconds, reducing his previous best by 5.77 seconds.

The remaining medallist was Euan Pate who won a bronze medal in the 200m Butterfly. Euan also finished 10th in the 100m Butterfly.

The four swimmers to gain a top 10 placing were:
Catherine Comrie, 16/O girls, 6th – 100m Breaststroke
Blair Wardlaw, 14/15 boy, 9th – 200m Backstroke
Kimberley McCabe, 16/O girls, 10th – 100m Breaststroke
Esme Lee, 12/13 girls, 10th 100m Backstroke. However, there is more to Esme’s weekend. She won’t be 12 until later next month but because her birthday is before 31st December she is currently ranked as a 12 year old, and two of her swims worthy of note were her 100m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle because although she was outside the top 10, her times meant that in both events she moved from 16th place to 9th place in the Scottish rankings.

The remaining two swimmers, who also missed out on a top 10 placing were Holly Armit, 12/13 girls, and Eireann Comrie, 14/15 girls.