Scottish National Age Group Championships Scottish National Age ...

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Apr 1, 2018 - Event 507 Mens 15 & Over 800m Freestyle – Kian McNelis. • Event 509 Girls 11-14 4x200m Freestyle R
Scottish National Age Group Championships 1 April 2018 Session 13 • •

Event 507 Mens 15 & Over 800m Freestyle – Kian McNelis Event 509 Girls 11-14 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Aimee Watson, Ashleigh Blyth, Emily Lightfoot & Molly Cannon

• Still recovering from yesterday’s swims, Kian was back on the starting blocks for his last individual swim of the Championships, the Men’s 15 & Over 800m Freestyle. With his being his second long distance swim in as many days, it was always going to be a difficult race for Kian. However after an initial fast 50m he quickly settled in to a steady pace averaging 36 seconds for each 50m. With 100m left to swim, Kian put in a last big effort, increasing this rate and finishing the race well with a time of 9:26.87. A great performance from Kian showing brilliant endurance to perform well in such a tough event on the fifth day of competition. Next up was the Girl’s 14-16 4x200 Freestyle relay with the Inverclyde girls; Molly Cannon, Emily Lightfoot, Ashleigh Blyth & Aimee Watson swimming together for the last time as a relay team at this year’s championship. First off was Aimee getting the girls a great start finishing her leg in 2:24.85. Next off was Ashleigh who flew through her first 50m in a time of 33.08, setting a high pace for herself which she kept up to the finish with a time of 2:29.48. It was then over to Emily to keep the girls in the race and she did so with a very fast swim, finishing her leg in 2:19.75. The responsibility for the anchor leg was with Molly and she was off and flying, chasing down the heat leaders and finishing in a time of 2:21.63. This gave the girls a 3rd place finish in their heat and an improvement up to 20th position for the event, with an overall time of 9:35.71, a fantastic 9.95 second improvement on their previous best. This was a massive performance from the girls and showed how they can dig deep for their team mates, performing well against some really hard competition.

Girls 11-14 Freestyle Relay Team - Ashleigh Blyth, Aimee Watson Molly Cannon& Emily Lightfoot,

Session 14

Session 14 Swimmers – Ashleigh Blythe, Alistair Currie, Darren Macleay, Lewis Gray, Ben Skinner, Matthew Garrity, Jay Keith & Molly Cannon (missing from photograph is Aimee Watson)

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Event 521 Boys 11-14 200m Individual Medley – Matthew Garrity Event 524 Girls 11-14 100m Breaststroke – Molly Cannon & Aimee Watson Event 525 Boys 11-14 50m Backstroke – Ben Skinner Event 526 Girls 11-14 50m Butterfly – Ashleigh Blyth, Molly Cannon & Aimee Watson Event 527 Boys 11-14 800m Freestyle – Matthew Garrity Event 529 Boys 11-13 4x100m Medley Relay – Jay Keith, Darren Macleay, Lewis Gray & Alistair Currie

First race of the day featured Matthew Garrity in the Boys 11-14 200m Individual Medley. After his

success in yesterday 400m IM, Matthew was out to see what he could achieve over the shorter distance. Seeded 6th for this event Matthew knew qualifying for the final was a realistic goal. A great start in the Butterfly with a time of 30.96seconds followed by a good backstroke leg and Matthew was in a great position. Matthew then maximised his strength in the Breaststroke leg pulling ahead of many of the other swimmers. A final effort on the Freestyle leg was enough for Matthew to qualify for the final in 4th position with a new Personal Best.

Next up was Inverclyde’s duo of Aimee Watson & Molly Cannon in the Girls 11-14 100m Breaststroke. Expectations were high with this being a favourite event for both girls, with. Aimee seeded 29th and Molly 15th. Up against some very strong competition, both girls were out to prove what they can achieve. Molly was off fast turning at 50m in 37.5 seconds, pushing all the way to the finish hitting the wall in 1:20.96. A new Personal Best and qualifying for the tonight’s final in 9th position. Aimee also made and excellent start to her race, turning on 36.43 seconds. With the wall fast approaching, Aimee dug deep and pulled ahead of the others to win her heat with a time of 1:17.30. A massive 6.70 second improvement on her Personal Best making Aimee the fastest qualifier for tonight’s Final. Next event was the Boy’s 11-14 50m Backstroke, with Ben Skinner representing Inverclyde. Swimming in his last individual swim of the Championships Ben was up against a large group of swimmers for this event. Like all other 50m sprints, this was a fast and furious race with little scope for error. Finishing in a time of 33:91 was enough for Ben to secure 21st position overall out of a group of 30 competitors. It was then time for the Girls 11-14 50m Butterfly with Ashleigh Blyth, Molly Cannon & Aimee Watson all competing for Inverclyde. Ashleigh, seeded 29th for this event, knew that there was real potential for improvement. A strong performance over the 50m sprint resulted in a new Personal Best of 32.17 seconds which moved her up the overall standings to 18th position. Competing in her last of 10 individual events of the Championship, Molly was ready to go. A good start kept Molly in the race all the way to the wall, with a very impressive finish time of 33.03 seconds. With an excellent start Aimee, was off and powering through her heat, pulling away from most of the others in the closing stages to secure 2nd place in her heat with a time of 30.73 seconds which qualified her for tonight’s final in 4th position. Inverclyde’s last individual swim was the Boys 11-14 800m Freestyle featuring Matthew Garrity. Having already swam the 1500m earlier in the Championships, Matthew was well practiced at these distance events. Following a quick initial 100m in 1:05.95, Matthew settled into a steady pace averaging 1:11:00 from 100m to 700m before a final effort in the closing stages to finish with a new Personal Best of 9:26.06 and 5th position overall. Our last race of the session and it was over to the Boys 11-13 Medley Relay Team; Jay Keith, Darren Macleay, Lewis Gray & Alistair Currie. Starting the Backstroke leg was Jay Keith who finished his 100m in 1:23.73 in a great position handing over to Darren Macleay for the Breaststroke. Darren smashed through his first 50m and dug really deep to maintain his pace through to the handover. Next up was Lewis who like Darren attacked the first 50m really hard. Out of his turn Lewis pushed all the way for the wall keeping the boys in the race. Last up was Alistair Currie who taking the lead from his teammates went out as hard as he could finishing his first 50m in 33.97 seconds. A quick turn and Alistair then increased his stroke rate and fought all the way back to finish in 1:11.93, giving the boys an overall time of 5:30.29 and a 3.07 second improvement on the their previous best. Well done boys, a great effort from all of you.

Boys 11-13 4x100m Medley Relay Team - Darren Macleay, Jay Keith, Alistair Currie & Lewis Gray

Session 15 - Day 5 Finals First final of the night saw Matthew Garrity competing in the Boys 11-14 200m Individual Medley. Having already achieved a Personal Best in his heat, Matthew knew he needed to swim a perfect race if he was to realise his best in this race, particularly as he was still recovering from his 800m Freestyle event this afternoon. A fast Butterfly with a 50m time of 30.83 seconds gave Matthew the perfect start and he was in the leading group from the start. A strong performance in the Backstroke and then on to the Breaststroke which his strongest discipline. This kept Matthew in the lead group and heading into the final Freestyle section. Giving everything he had left, Matthew powered through the final 50m to finish with another Personal Best in a time of 2:23.69, giving him 4th position overall. A fantastic achievement. Next up was Molly Cannon and Aimee Watson in the Girl’s 11-14 100m Breaststroke. It has been a busy Championships for Molly with her competing in 10 individual events and 3 relays. In qualifying for the final Molly had already achieved a new Personal Best for this event. A good start and Molly was in the thick of the race turning in 38.64 seconds. With 50m remaining, Molly gave everything she had, finishing well in what was a very close race. Having already achieved significant improvement in her Personal Best in the heat, it was going to be hard for Aimee to replicate this in the final. However a really fast opening 50m of 35.42 seconds set her up well and Aimee was in a group just behind the race leader. Pushing all the way to the line, Aimee managed to pull ahead of the rest of the swimmers to finish with a new Personal Best in a time of 1:16.41 in 2nd position earning her a Silver Medal. Well done Aimee.

Girls 11-14 100m Breaststroke Silver Medallist Aimee Watson Inverclyde’s last race of the Championships featured Aimee Watson in the Girl’s 11-14 50m Butterfly. Like Molly this has been a busy Championship for Aimee, and this was her last event. A textbook start and Aimee was off powering down the pool and closing in on the leaders as the finish approached. A final effort and Aimee finished in a time of 30.73 seconds in 5th position overall. Coaches Comment There are so many things that contribute to a swimmers success, but one of the most important is how hard they are willing to work towards success. All our swimmers over the past five days have spent the past year setting their sights on this competition and working relentlessly until they made it. Every swimmer who has pulled on an Inverclyde cap over the past five days is a perfect example of how hard work and effort can get you to the top level of performance against the best in the country. They have swam amazingly and have done their club and themselves proud. Now it’s time to rest, just not for too long, there’s only 51 weeks to go...