Talented Rutherglen swimmers rule in pool
Club members break records at two meets
The Rutherglen Amateur Swimming Club had two busy weekends and many personal best times were broken.
At Larkhall, the South Lanarkshire Development Meet saw PBs accomplished out of 39 swims.
There were also five first places. In the 100 back 10 and under and 200 free 10 and under, Madison McCallum took two golds.
There were also golds for Leona McQueenie in the female 50 back 10 and under, Ross McGhee in the male 50 back 10 and under and Victoria Mein in the 100 fly 11 year old category.
Two second places were achieved by Victoria Mein in the 100 breast and Joachim Fairweather in the 100 fly 12 year olds.
At the Bellshill meet that coincided with the Larkhall competition, many of the swimmers were competing for Scottish national age group (SNAG) times and a number of them were achieved.
In all there were 93 swims with 49 top six places, 51 PBs and one first swim.
Blair Kennedy won 11 medals and Sam Sabharwal took home five.
There was good fighting from Theo Monteith who won three medals.
It also turned out to be a sad occasion as Hazel Leslie performed in her last races for the club.
Her win in the 200 fly and sub 30 seconds for the 50 free will be a lasting memory, along with four 15 years’ club records. Rutherglen also travelled to the Carnegie Meet at Glenrothes, Fife.
In all, the club had 93 swims, 38 of which were top six placed. However, there were 17 firsts, a number of those taken in the finals with 54 personal bests also achieved.
Rutherglen’s points total was a clear third behind Carnegie and Dundee Aquatics who both have memberships that are double the size of Rutherglen’s.
Ethan Horn won the best boy in the 13-14 age group with four first places, a second and three third places.
But it was Elise McQueenie who had the most wins with five as well as a second in the 200 freestyle.
And the places came thick and fast with four wins, five seconds and three thirds from Morgan Carmichael who was performing close to her best.
Chris Perceval- Maxwell, Johann Fawcett, Jori Horn and Louise Bradley all won golds.
Chris won a credible five silvers, Finlay Easton with a silver and a bronze and Jori a bronze.
Some of the performances that did not get medals were just as remarkable.
Elise Fawcett took huge chunks of time off everything she did, particularly in the 400 freestyle in which she dropped nearly 17 seconds.
Similarly, Sophie Bestwick, who has already got her SNAG times, is training hard and swimming through these events despite being very tired.
Rona Easton also achieved a good personal best in the 200 breaststroke and Ayesha McDonald consistently dropped her PBs in almost everything, particularly in front crawl.
Calum Gowran was disappointed in not breaking the minute for the 100 free despite a huge effort however, Findlay Easton was delighted to do so after a number of close attempts.
Brogan McCallum also had some good swims too, getting close to her PBs.
Johann Fawcett has been flying recently and continues to put in some very good performances and personal bests.
Coach Lindsay Young, said: “We are delighted with the way our swimmers are responding at the moment and looking forward to the Scottish national age groups at the end of next month.”
We are delighted with the way our swimmers are responding at the moment