Eleven Fins’ swimmers were back in action after the short Easter break and they continued their excellent start to the year at the University of Aberdeen Long Course Age Group Open Meet, held in the 10 lane 50m pool at the Aquatics Centre in Aberdeen Sports Village. The meet attracted a very large entry from all over Scotland plus a few Scandinavian clubs, so Fins’ swimmers did exceptionally well to finish with 6 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals plus a further 23 swims to make the top 10. In addition, two swimmers set Fins’ club records.
Top swimmer for Fins was once again Erin Taylor, 11 to 13 girls age group who won four of the six gold medals and they came in the 100m and 200m Butterfly; and 200m and 400m Individual Medley. Erin also won a bronze medal in the 100m Freestyle and finished 4th in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke; 5th in the 50m Butterfly; and 6th in the 50m Freestyle. She was also 1st reserve for the final of the 50m Backstroke.
The other gold medallist for Fins was Neža Dolenc Luznar, 14/15 girls who won gold in both the 50m and 100m Freestyle setting a new Fins’ Long Course record in the 50m Freestyle with a time of 27.83 seconds which shaved 0.03 seconds off the previous record set by Katie Johnstone at the Scottish National Age Group Championships in April 2013. In her 100m Freestyle Neža edged closer to beating the one minute mark and is now just 0.43 seconds away. Neža also finished 4th in the 200m Freestyle.
Arran Stowe, 16/O boys, won silver in the 400m Freestyle where he reduced his own Fins’ record by an impressive 3.15 seconds, that he set at the Glasgow International Meet last May, with a time of 4 minutes 15.55 seconds. Arran also won two bronze medals for the 100m and 200m Freestyle. He also finished 4th in the 200m Breaststroke; 7th in the 100m Breaststroke; and 8th in the 50m Freestyle, and was also 1st reserve for the 50m Breaststroke final.
12 year old Esme Lee, 11/13 girls, did exceptionally well to gain a bronze medal in this age group, finishing 3rd in the 200m Backstroke. Esme also gained a 4th place finish in the 100m Backstroke; 6th in the 50m Backstroke and 7th in the 200m Individual Medley.
Theo Goodfellow, 16/O boys, was Fins remaining medallist winning bronze in the 200m Breaststroke. Theo also finished 4th in the 100m Breaststroke and 8th in the 50m Breaststroke.
Euan Pate, 16/O boys, just missed out on a medal finishing 4th in both the 200m Individual Medley and the 200m Butterfly. Euan also finished 5th in the 100m Butterfly.
The remaining results were –
Blair Wardlaw, 14/15 boys, 7th – 200m Backstroke; 9th – 100m Backstroke
Sophie Juskowiak, 11/13 girls, 8th – 200m Individual Medley; 10th 100m Backstroke
Ben Lewis, 14/15 boys, 9th in both the 100m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke, and 10th in the 100m Butterfly.
Erin O’Connor, 14/15 girls, was 1st reserve for the final of the 50m Breaststroke and 2nd reserve for the 100m Breaststroke.
The remaining swimmer at Aberdeen was Holly Armit, 11/13 girls. All swimmers recorded multiple PBs over the weekend, but two outstanding improvements came from Blair, who reduced his 200m Backstroke by 12.04 seconds, and Euan who reduced his 200m Individual medley time by 11.47 seconds.