Warrender Baths Club, Edinburgh held their annual Junior Age Groups Meet at the Michael Woods Centre, Glenrothes, last Saturday and Sunday. The meet was split into two separate meets, with the 12 and over swimmers competing on the Saturday, while the 12 and under swimmers competed on the Sunday with their events being contested over half the distance of their older counterparts.
Fins were well represented on both days 11 swimmers competing in 47 swims on the Saturday and 12 swimmers competing in 46 swims on the Sunday. In terms of improvement there were mixed fortunes with the older swimmers returning a relatively low improvement rate of 53% while the younger swimmers fared considerably better with an 89% improvement rate.
Back four – Ethan, Eva, Finnley, and Jack. Middle row – Elliot, Sadie, Caleb, Grace, Irys, Cole, Lilian and Sarah. Front Four – Lily-Mae, Eilidh, Olivia Bak, and Chelsea
That said there were still some excellent performances from both sets of swimmers, resulting in a total of 6 wins, 10 – 2nd, 6- 3rd, and 29 top 10 placings.
Taking the Saturday swims first, Fins top swimmer, in terms of achievement, was once again Adam Selbie, 14 boys, who won all his four swims, all in PBs, and all impacting of Fins’ top 50 rankings. Adam’s top swim was his 100m backstroke when his 3.58 second PB moves him from 30th to 10th in Fins’ rankings. While he official sits in 9th place in the Scottish 14 years rankings his time of 1 minute 2.70 seconds would give 3rd place, just one hundredth of a second behind 2nd place Angus Woods of Kintyre, but 6.19 seconds behind top place Nikolai Sisnett, City of Glasgow.
A 6.96 second PB in his 400m freestyle moves Adam from 23rd to 1th in Fins’ rankings and a potential 3rd place in the Scottish rankings, currently 14th, and just 2.91 seconds behind the leader Aiden Anderson, Bridge of Don.
In his 100m butterfly, a 3.04 second PB moves Adam from 49th to 34th in Fins rankings, and a potential 8th place in Scotland, currently 18th.
Adam also had one entry to the Fins rankings in 29th place, with a 3.31 second PB, in a time of 57.02 seconds in his 100m freestyle. This is a potential 5th place in Scotland, with his current position outside the top 25, and is just 1.29 seconds behind the leader Nikolai Sisnett.
Because this is a new entry to Fins’ rankings one swimmer must drop out and that is Sam Lewis who set his time at Ren96 in November 2017.
The time to achieve entry to the rankings now stands at 58.90 seconds.
Lilian Blair, 12 girls, gained three 2nd places and one 3rd. Lilian was 2nd in her 400m freestyle, recording the second largest PB in the older group, with a 10.32 second improvement. Lilian’s time of 5 minutes 11.54 seconds was agonisingly just one hundredth of a second from the Fins rankings.
Lilian’s other two 2nd places came in her 200m individual medley and her 100m butterfly.
In the 12 years girls’ Scottish rankings Lilian’s potential placings are – 100m butterfly – 5th, up from 9th; 200m individual medley – 6th, up from 13th; 400m freestyle – 8th, up from 15th; and 100m freestyle – 9th, up from 13th.
Ethen Pate, 13 boys, gained two 2nd places, one 3rd and one 4th place.
Ethan was 2nd in the 400m freestyle in a time of 4 minutes54.71 seconds and that edged him closers to entry to Fins’ rankings, sitting just 2.30 seconds away. Very much achievable in a 400m swim. Ethan’s other 2nd place was achieved in his 100m freestyle, his 3rd place came in his 200m individual medley and his 4th place was in his 100m butterfly.
Apart from his 200m individual medley all Ethan’s PBs were under a second, but there is still some potential movement in 13 years boy’s Scottish Rankings and Ethan is likely to be 15th in the 100m butterfly, up from 18th; 19th in the 100m freestyle, up from 25th, and he would be in 24th place in the 200m individual medley.
Kirstin Mackay, 15/O girls, was 3rd in the 400m freestyle and 5th in the 200m individual medley. Both swims made changes to the Fins’ rankings and a 1.53 second PB in the 400m freestyle saw Kirstin move from 8th to 6th. In the Scottish 16 years girls’ rankings, Kristin’s time of 4 minutes 40.97 would potentially move her from 18th to 7th.
In her 200m individual medley a PB of 0.53 seconds moves Kristin from 15th to 13th, which would potentially bring her into the top 25 Scottish rankings in 15th place.
Irys Blair, 14 girls, was 4th in the 200m individual medley, and a 5.47 second PB means that she enters the Fins’ rankings in 35th place. The swimmer to be displaced is Leeanne Sinclair, who set her time at Glenrothes in November 1995. The entry time now stands at 2 minutes 44.12 seconds.
Irys was 5th in the 400m freestyle, but her PB did not make a difference to her place in the rankings. She was also 5th in the 100m backstroke and finished 17th in the 100m breaststroke, but continues to reduce her time.
Irys’ time of 2 minutes 40.33 seconds would potentially give her a 25th place in the Scottish 14 years girl’s rankings.
Caleb Gray, 13 boys, had a total of six swims finishing 6th in the 400m freestyle, 200m individual medley, and 100m backstroke. Caleb also finished 8th in the 100m breaststroke, 9th in the 100m butterfly, and 10th in the 100m freestyle.
Jack Campbell, 12 boys, also had six swims, finishing 7th in the 400m freestyle, 8th in both the 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly, 10th in the 100m breaststroke, 11th in the 100m backstroke and 12th in the 100m freestyle.
The results of the remaining swimmers are:
Cole Gray, 12 boys, 7th – 200m individual medley, 9th in both the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle, and 10th in 100m backstroke
Eva Watson, 13 girls, 8th – 100m butterfly, 12th – 100m backstroke, 14th 100m breaststroke, and 15th – 100m freestyle.
Finnley McDonald, 15/O boys, 9th – 400m freestyle, 17th – 100m freestyle, 21st – 200m individual medley, 22nd – 100m butterfly.
Last, but certainly not least, Sadie Paton, 12 years girls, did very well. Her top finish was 11th in the 100m breaststroke, but she excelled in her 100m butterfly, finishing 12th, but more importantly, she recorded the largest PB by a Fins swimmer on the Saturday, reducing her previous best by 23.58 seconds Sadie also finished 12th in her 100m backstroke, 13th in her 100m freestyle, and 14th in her 200m individual medley.
Moving on to the Sunday swimmers, and the top 12 and under swimmer was Elliot Blair, 10 boys, with two wins and four 2nd placings from his six swims. Elliot won the 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly. His runner-up swims came in the 200m individual medley, 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and the 200m freestyle, and it was his 200m freestyle that produced the third largest PB from the Sunday group, when he reduced his previous best by 8.76 seconds
The largest PB recorded came from Eden Mackie, 11 girls, who improved her 50m butterfly by 14.19 seconds to finish in 11th place. Eden’s other five swims placed her 2nd in both the 200m freestyle and 50m freestyle, 4th in the 100m individual medley, and 5th in both the 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke.
Lily-Mae McDonald, 9 girls, had a good day with a 2nd place and 3 third placings from her four swims
Lily-Mae’s runner up spot came in her 50m freestyle, with her 3rd places coming in the 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke.
Just missing out on a top three spot was Grace Mills, 11 girls who finished 4th in her 50m butterfly, 7th in the 100m individual medley, and 9th in the 50m backstroke.
Antonia Eadie, 10 girls, was 6th in the 50m Backstroke, 11th in the 100m individual medley, and 17th in the 50m freestyle. In her 100m individual medley Antonia recorded the second largest Fins’ PB by reducing her time by 13.26 seconds.
The remaining results were:
Sarah Macleod, 12 girls, 10th – 50m freestyle; 16th – 50m backstroke
Olivia Hathaway, 12 girls, 12th in both the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke; 18th – 50m backstroke.
Leyton Neilson, 11 boys, 12th – 200m freestyle; 13th in both the 100m individual medley and 50m butterfly; and 17th in the 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke.
Chelsea Walker, 11 girls, 12th – 200m freestyle; 22nd – 50m backstroke; and 28th – 50m breaststroke.
Lily Bonnar, 11 girls, 21st – 50m breaststroke, 26th – 50m freestyle, 31st – 100m individual medley; 33rd – 50m butterfly; and 34th – 50m backstroke
Eilidh Needham, 10 girls, 25th – 50m backstroke; 28th – 50m freestyle; and 31st 50m breaststroke
Olivia Bak, 11 girls, 26th – 50m butterfly; and 28th – 50m backstroke.
Overall, this was another good performance, just keep it going.
Photo is courtesy of Yvonne Pate-McKendry
Ken White
Club Press Officer