Scottish East District Age Group Championships 2025 – Round 3

The third and final round of the Scottish East District Age Group Championships was held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, last weekend, and what a weekend for Fins’ swimmers who achieved a total of 8 District Titles, 1 silver, and two bronze medals, plus a further 13 top 10 finishes, with most of the events having 25 or more entrants, with a maximum of 51. There were 5 individual events in total comprising all four 100m individual strokes plus a 200m individual medley, with the 100m events run as heats and finals while the individual medley was heat declared winner. Nine of the 14 swimmers achieved a top 10 finish or equivalent.

 

In addition, two Fins swimmers achieved top female awards in their respective age group, based on the results of all three rounds of the championships.

 

Once again, the achievements and performances by the swimmers excelled expectations. Fourteen swimmers qualified for the championships and competed in a total of 54 swims, recording a very healthy 48 actual long course PBs, with 5 of them in double figures.

 

Over all three rounds of the championships Fins’ swimmers achieved a total of 17 District Titles, 8 sliver, and 7 bronze medals. For a relatively small club, it doesn’t get much better.

 

The two top female awards were achieved by Lilian Blair, 13 female, who, out of a total of 17 events over the three rounds, achieved 7 District Titles, and six silver medals.  Millie Whytock, 11/12 female, also won 7 District Titles, 1 silver, and 5 bronze medals.

In Round 3, it was Millie who just shaded the achievements over Lilian winning the freestyle, individual medley, backstroke, and butterfly, plus a bronze medal in the breaststroke. Once again, Millie recorded PBs in all her swims, including the butterfly where she dropped the previous best by 14.31 seconds, giving her the 4^th largest PB by a Fins’ swimmer.

 

Lilian won her freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly, plus silver medals in both the breaststroke and individual medley. Lilian recorded the larges PB in her individual medley which she reduced by 17.60 seconds, just missing out on the title by 1.20 seconds.

 

The final winner was Adam Selbie, 15 male, who won his backstroke plus he gained a bronze medal in the freestyle. Adam also qualified for the finals of the butterfly in 6^th place and the breaststroke in 8^th place, but decided not to compete to allow him to focus on his backstroke and freestyle finals respectively. Again, all Adam’s swims produced PBs.

Cole Gray, 13 male, qualified for four finals, finishing 5^th in his butterfly, 6^th in both his backstroke and individual medley, and was 8^th in the freestyle. Cole recorded the 2^nd largest and 5^th largest PBs, reducing his butterfly by 17.18 seconds, and his breaststroke by 11.62 seconds.

 

Elliot Blair, 11/12 male, qualified for the backstroke final finishing in 7^th place and was also 7^th in the individual medley. Elliot had a good weekend as he is still in the lower half of the two year age group.

 

Ethan Pate, 14 male, finished 8^th in the individual medley and qualified for the final of the freestyle, finishing 8^th.

 

Jack Campbell, 13 male, was 8^th in the individual and was 2^nd reserve for the final of the freestyle (10^th).

 

Harvey Whytock, 15 male, was 8^th in the final of the butterfly.

 

Irys Blair, 15 female, was the final swimmer to make a top 10, finishing as 1^st reserve for the backstroke final, and was 10^th in the individual medley.

 

The other swimmers who qualified for the Championships were – Caleb Gray, 14 male; Eva Watson, 14 female; Finnley McDonald, 16 male; Sadie Paton, 13 female; and Leyton Neilson, 11/12 male, who was making his debut at this level of competition.

 

 

Club Information

First of all, the results of the other swimmers who qualified for the Championships –

Caleb, 12^th – individual medley, 14^th butterfly, 17^th – back, 18^th – breaststroke, and 20^th freestyle.

Eva, 13^th – freestyle, 16^th – butterfly, and 18^th – individual medley

Finnley, 19^th – freestyle, 21^st – butterfly, 22^nd – breaststroke, and 23^rd – backstroke

Sadie, 28^th – backstroke.

Leyton, 29^th – freestyle.

 

Because Round 3 of the Championships was a long course event there were a lot of positional changes in the Fins’ all-time long course rankings, 43 in all with the exceptions being the six swims that just fell short of a PB, plus five no changes, despite PBs of between 1.36 and 15.20 zero seconds.

 

Top ranked swimmer, from the current squads, is Adam who moves from 5^th to 4^th in the 100m backstroke, with a 0.99 second PB,  he is just 0.69 seconds off 3^rd spot and 5.98 seconds short of the club record. Adam also moved from 15^th to 7^th in the 100m butterfly, and from 12^th to 7^th in the 100m freestyle, with PBs of 6.17 and 2.08 seconds respectively.

 

The 2^nd top ranked swimmer is Lilian who moved from 17^th place to 10^th place in the 100m breaststroke with a PB of 3.82 seconds. Lilian also moved from 26^th to 16^th in the 100m freestyle, reducing her previous best by 2.90 seconds, and from 27^th to 19^th in the 100m butterfly, and from 31^st to 21^st in the 200m individual medley, both mentioned in the main report above.

 

The two highest entries to the rankings were achieved by Harvey, who enters in 12^th place in the 100m butterfly, and in 19^th place in the 200m individual medley.

 

The largest movement up the rankings came from Millie, who moved up 19 places in the 100m freestyle, from 38^th to 19^th with an 8.45 second PB. She also moved from 28^th to 17^th, and from 29^th to 20^th in the 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly, with PBs of 6.42 seconds and 14.31 seconds respectively. In addition, Millie also had two entries in the rankings, moving into 23^rd place in the 200m individual medley, and 28^th in the 100m breaststroke.

 

The second largest movement was achieved by Eva, who moved from 33^rd to 20^th in the100m freestyle, recording a 5.28 second PB. Eva also moves from 28^th to 27^th in the 100m butterfly where her improvement was 3.93 seconds.

 

Irys moves from 22^nd to 12^th in the 100m freestyle with a 2.74 second PB, 19^th to 18^th in the 200m individual medley, and from 21^st to 20^th in the 100m butterfly with PBs of 4.21 and 0.88 seconds.

 

Finnley, moves from 18^th to 15^th in the 100m freestyle, 18^th to 16^th in the 200m individual medley, and 19^th to 17^th in the 100m backstroke, with PBs of 7.21, 2.49, and 0.77 seconds.

 

Ethan moves from 19^th t0 15^th in the 100m breaststroke, 23^rd to 17^th in the 100m backstroke, and 22^nd to 21^st in the 100m freestyle, with PBs of 7.63, 4.21, and 3.19 seconds.

 

Cole, moves from 24^th to 18^th in the 100m breaststroke, 20^th to 18^th in the butterfly, 25^th to 20^th in the 100m backstroke, 24^th to 23^rd in the 200m individual medley, and 27^th to 26^th in the 100m freestyle, with PBs of 11.62, 17.13, 7.18, 9.50, and 6.38 seconds.

 

Caleb, moves from 24^th to 18^th in the 100m backstroke, 20^th to 18^th in the 100m breaststroke, and 27^th to 21^st in the 100m freestyle, with PBs of 3.85, 5.72, and 2.62 seconds.

 

Jack, enters the 100m breastst5roke in 21^st place, the 100m backstroke and the 200m individual medley in 24^th place, and the 100m freestyle in 27^th place.

 

Elliot, enters the 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, and the 200m individual medley in 25^th place, and the 100m freestyle in 28^th place.

 

Leyton, enters the 100m freestyle in 29^th place.

 

The only swimmer not mention in the context of the rankings is Sadie, who competed in one swim, the 100m backstroke, and despite a 5.18 second PB, there was no change to her position, remaining in 36^th place, but now just 1.49 seconds away from moving up the rankings.

 

Fantastic performances all round. Just keep on working hard, listen to you coaches, and who knows what might happen.

 

Ken White

Club Press Officer