SWIMMING — End-Of-Year Success For Inverclyde ASC At National Short Course Championships
INVERCLYDE Amateur Swimming Club ended the year on a high taking three Scottish junior titles. at the National Short Course Championships.
The competition is open to all swimmers across Scotland, allowing the Inverclyde team to go up against some of the biggest names in Scottish swimming, but only if they meet the tough entry times. The top Scottish swimmers aged 16 and under in each event are crowned Scottish junior champion.
The stand-out performance came from Aimee Watson, who was in action across all three days. Her first event was the 50-metre breaststroke, in which she swam extremely well to make the A final.
Finishing in sixth place in the senior event, Aimee was the fastest youngster and was crowned the new Scottish junior champion. She also competed in the 200-metre breaststroke, the 50-metre and 100-metre butterfly, and the 100-metre and 200-metre IM (individual medley) in which she continued to put in strong and consistent performances.
On the final day of competition, all eyes were on Aimee to see if she could repeat her 50-metre success in the 100-metre breaststroke, and she didn’t disappoint. Aimee finished in overall seventh place in the senior race to take her second junior champion title of the weekend. She also set a new PB (personal best) in the event to round off a fantastic competition and a fantastic year.
Matthew Garrity was battling illness at the start of the competition, and struggled to get close to his best in his first events, the 50-metre breaststroke and 400-metre IM. Digging deep, Matthew fought back in the 100-metre breaststroke. With household names involved and a highly-competitive field, qualifying for the overall final was never a realistic goal, so he was able to give everything in the heats, where he finished as the fastest youngster, to claim the Scottish Junior Champion title.
Matthew got to share the podium with one of his swimming idols, Ross Murdoch, who won the senior title.
Buoyed by his win, Matthew went on to set new PBs in the 100-metre IM and 50-metre freestyle in the remainder of the competition.
Also competing were Molly Cannon and Aaron Gray. Aaron was swimming in the 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly. A solid swim in the 100-metre event saw him finish just outside his best time. His highlight came in the 200-metre event in which a huge personal best saw him shoot up the seedings and set him up for an exciting 2020 of top level competition.
Molly, who was also battling illness, was competing in the 50-metre, 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke and the 100m IM. Despite not feeling in top form, Molly put in some excellent performances to set new personal fastest times in the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke and swam incredibly close to her best in the other two events. Molly’s grit and determination will be a huge asset for her going in to the new year.
The fantastic four came together to compete in the 4 x 100-metre medley relay, the final event of the competition. With Molly on the backstroke leg, Matthew in the breaststroke, Aaron in the butterfly and Aimee in the freestyle, the quartet put in a superb performance to finish as fourth-best junior team with a new fastest time.
Head coach Shirley Reford was bursting with pride at the performances. It has been a long and challenging year for the club, with compromised training facilities putting additional pressures on coaches, swimmers and families to travel to alternative venues. To end the year with another three Scottish champions and more members competing at the top level is testament to the hard work, dedication and talent of the club’s swimmers.
