Another record for Fins swimmer Erin Taylor

The Scottish 17/18 years 200m Breaststroke Champion won the 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly as the Fife Swimming Leagues made a welcome return last Sunday for the first time in over two years.

The first round of four Fife League and the Fife Novice League took place at the Michael Woods Centre in Glenrothes where eight Fife clubs competed in a revised version of the leagues, with three swimmers per event.

Taylor’s win in the 200m came in a time of 2 minutes 21.43 seconds, giving her a 3.22 second PB and a new club short course record, reducing the previous record, set by Sarah Chapman at the Scottish National Short Course Championships in January 2009, by 0.87 seconds.

Her time of 1 minute 5.15 seconds in the 100m moved her up to second place in the club rankings and was just 0.52 seconds away from yet another club record.

Eight Fife clubs competed with Fins having a total of 36 swimmers – 28 in the league, swimming in a total 50 swims, and eight in the novice league with a total of 15 swims.

In the league the swimmers recorded 10 first places, ten second and four thirds, with 21 further top eight placings producing 47 PBs – and an outstanding 94 per cent improvement rate.

Because there had been no leagues for over two years the novice swimmers were all swimming competitively for the first time, so all their swims were PBs, and they achieved three firsts, three seconds and and three thirds with four further top eight placings.

There were some excellent PBs throughout the day but none that compares with Alastair Gordon’s PB in the 13/14 years boys, 50m butterfly.

Gordon had not swum the event since March 2019 but managed a 44.66 second PB over 50m.

The Fins Mixed 12 and under 4x50m freestyle relay team of Adam Selbie, Ethan Pate; Irys Blair and Ayva Mellon were winners in their event.

In the Mixed 15 and over 4x50m freestyle relay team of Mark Scott, Blair Wardlaw, Erin Taylor and Heidi Mellon had to settle for second place.

The other winners were: Adam Selbie, 8 to 12 years boys, first in both the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly; Mark Scott, 15 and over boys, first in both the 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly; Steven Pate, 15 and over boys, first in the 200m breaststroke and second in the 100n breaststroke; Blair Wardlaw, 15 and over boys, first in the 100m backstroke and second in the 50m butterfly; Heidi Mellon, 15 and over girls, first in the 200m breaststroke and third in the 100m breaststroke and Roman Johnston, 8 to 12 years boys, first in the 50m breaststroke and fourth in the 100m breaststroke.

It was good to see the younger swimmers competing in their first competitive swim, and hopefully they will improve over the next few years.

However, they did get off to a promising start in the Novice League.

Two of the winners also gained a second placing and they were Lillian Blair, 8 to 10 years girls, who won the 25m freestyle and was second in the 50m breaststroke, and Taylor Deacon, 11/12 girls, who won the 50m breaststroke and was second in the 25m backstroke.

The other winner was Olivia Mroczkiewiicz, 11/12 girls, who won the 25m freestyle, whilst the other second place went to Jessica Christie, 8 to 10 girls.

Sadie Paton, 8 to 10 girls, gained two third placings in the 25m freestyle and 25m butterfly and the remaining third placing went to Logan Davidson, 11/12 boys.