Inverclyde Now Logo SWIMMING — Success For Inverclyde Competitors At West District Event

8 February, 2019 | Local

A SQUAD of 17 from Inverclyde Amateur Swimming Club (IASC) headed back to Tollcross for the second round of the West District Long Course Age Group Championships.

The team completed a total of 56 individual swims achieving 25 top-10 finishes and winning two bronze, two silver and two gold medals as well as earning many new personal best (PB) times.

Matthew Garrity led the honours for IASC, coming away with two superb gold medals in the 50-metre and 200-metre breaststroke events. His 50-metre time of 31.84 seconds brings him within 0.1 second of a new West District record for this distance, a hugely positive sign so early in the long course season. To round off his successful weekend, Matthew also came fifth in the 200-metre freestyle.

Not to be outdone by his older brother, Luke Garrity put in another great performance to pick up a silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke and a bronze in the 50-metre breaststroke. Luke also swam in the 200-metre freestyle, finishing an impressive seventh place in his age category.

Leading the way for the girls once again was Aimee Watson. Aimee opted not to swim in her preferred breaststroke events and still managed to win a silver medal in the 50-metre butterfly and a bronze medal in the 200-metre individual medley. An eighth place in the 200-metre backstroke and 14th place in the 50-metre freestyle added to the impressive results for the highly-talented swimmer.

A further 16 top-10 finishes were achieved by a further 10 swimmers. April Craynor impressed by coming fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and eighth in the 200-metre event, setting fast new PBs in both. April also recorded another impressive PB in the 50-metre butterfly, finishing 15th. And despite being well outside his PB, Kian McNelis managed to hold on for fifth place in the 1500-metre freestyle.

Molly Cannon set new PBs to finish sixth in the 200-metre individual medley and seventh in the 50-metre breaststroke. Molly finished just outside her best times for the 50-metre butterfly, 200-metre freestyle and 50-metre freestyle, but still recorded respectable 11th, 15th and 16th-place finishes. Young Betty Fischer Keogh also achieved two top-10 places and two new PBs –- coming sixth in the 50-metre freestyle and ninth in the 50-metre butterfly.

Thomas Cannon was pleased to finish eighth in the 200-metre breaststroke, despite being just outside his best time. He swam a PB to reach 15th in the 50-metre breaststroke and was 18th in the 50-metre backstroke. Alistair Currie did well to come eighth in the 200-metre freestyle and ninth in the 50-metre event, with a fast new PB. Oliver Patton also swam an impressive PB to claim eighth place in the 200-metre backstroke. He also PB’ed in the 50-metre freestyle, in which he finished 13th.

Adam Brooks finished in ninth place in the 50-metre backstroke with a new PB and, despite not swimming his fastest time, managed 10th place in the 200-metre event. Peter Maloney finished ninth in the 50-metre butterfly and 11th in the 50-metre backstroke, setting two new PBs. He also managed a 12th-place finish in the 200-metre backstroke.

Completing the list of finalists was Jay Keith, with two 10th places and two PBs for the 50-metre butterfly and the 200-metre individual medley. Jay also scored three further PBs to finish in the top-20 in the 50-metre breaststroke, freestyle and backstroke events.

Despite finishing outside of the top-10, other swimmers were pleased with their performances at this high level of competition. Lucy Campbell achieved five top-20 finishes and three new PBs and Michal Zawadzki made three top-20 finishes and two PBs. Ashleigh Blyth made the top-20 twice and was just outside it on her third swim and Emily Lightfoot was unlucky not to PB in her races.

The coaches commented: “It was one of the most successful weekends of competition at West District level for the club. Besides their great results, our swimmers were delighted to be given the opportunity meet international stars Craig McLean, Ross Murdoch, Aimee Wilmott and Duncan Scott. The chance to learn from the best and get tips and advice from them was an amazing experience. We are very grateful to the West District Team for organising it.”

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