Dumfries ASC
It was a busy October for the club’s swimmers across all squads with plenty of early season racing opportunities.
The junior swimming also coaches picked their first Swimmer of the Month for the new season so huge congratulations to Paige Coulter who, since joining the club has shown a willingness to learn and improve her swimming skills.
SAST Sue McClure graded meet/ Cumbernauld Autumn meet
On October 6, five junior swimmers travelled to the Citadel in Ayr to compete when Ru, Angus, Anna, Yvaine and Aria all put in excellent performances, getting PBs across the board. They also demonstrated great team support, encouraging each other in every race.
The same weekend more Dumfries swimmers travelled to Cumbernauld for their Autumn meet when four swimmers brought home a total of 10 medals.
Kalia Laidlaw took a podium of colours, with gold in the 100m fly, silver in the 100m breast and bronze in the 100m backstroke event. Adam Hunter took home two gold from his three races in the 200IM and the 100m fly. One of the club’s newest members, Oscar Wharton, also took home the three colours of medals with gold in the 100m free, silver in the 100m breast and bronze in the 200m breast. Struan Henry finished off the medal haul with a silver in the 200IM and bronze in the 200m fly.
National County Team Championships
Four club swimmers competed against the best sprinters in the country at Sheffield on October 6.
Anna Dunlop, Yassin Hatab, Nathan Zaoral and Finlay Nelson were part of the Scot West Team who defied all expectations and finished in an amazing sixth place after being predicted to finish in 11th place.
Club coach Owen McBurnie was also selected to attend and they were well supported by Jamie Nelson representing SASA West District and Hazel Hastings, the District President. They won the battle of the Scots again this year.
3 Club Development Meet
On October 12, Dumfries ASC hosted East Kilbride and SAST in a 3-club development meet. This was a very informal meet and it gave all the swimmers the opportunity to race new events or try to better times they already had.
The afternoon started with a swimmers conga around the pool and finished with a 10x50m freestyle relay, organized by club coach Owen McBurnie, with all the clubs and age groups mixed up. A great finale to the day.
All 35 Dumfries swimmers swam brilliantly, and while this was not a medal meet, they came away with many fantastic personal best times to go forward with for the rest of the season.
West District Short Course Championships
The West District Short Course Championship Weekend 1 was held at DG1 Leisure Centre in Dumfries, giving the club’s swimmers, a great opportunity to race in their own pool.
Team DASC had 12 male and 11 females taking part, with the Junior age groups (11-14yrs) taking place on the Saturday and the senior age groups (15yrs+) on the Sunday.
The Saturday team swam their socks off and were rewarded with super swims and fantastic PBs with 25 medals won.
Teyah Laidlaw won four medals from six races in the 11-12 yr age group, taking gold in the 50m fly, silver in the 100IM and 200m fly and a brilliant bronze in the 100m back. Robyn Maxwell secured five medals from her six races in the same age group with silver in the 200m breast, 50m fly, 400m free, 50m back and a well fought bronze in the 200IM.
In the 13 year age group, Yassin Hatab swam three personal best times and was rewarded with a gold in the 1500m, silver in the 50m back and 200IM and a bronze in the 200m fly.
Nathan Zaoral also picked up three medals with a gold in the 50m back and silvers in the 50m fly and 400m free. Struan Henry completed the trio of medal winning 13-year-old boys taking a silver in the 100m back in a new personal best time.
In the 14 year age group, Amber Hinton won five golds from all five races in the 1500m free, 50m fly, 400m free, 50m back and finished with a blistering last 25m to win the 200IM. Sarah McQuire secured a double silver with medals in the 1500m free and 400m free and Lauren Dunlop swam a brilliant PB to take a bronze in the 400m free.
Sunday was the time for the slightly older swimmers to shine and they did that in great style with another 18 medals brought home by Team DASC.
Molly Irvine-Watson took a clean sweep of colours with a gold in the 100m free, silver in the 50m free and bronze in the 200m free in the 15-year-old age group. Anna Dunlop also came away with a silver in the 100m fly and bronze medals in the 50m free, 100m free and 50 m breast.
In the 16-year-old boys, Rhys Edwards led the field in the 50m free and 100m free events to take gold and also took a silver in the 200m free. In the same age group, Daniel Faulkner took a well earned silver in the 800m free and a bronze in the 50m breast.
In the 17+ age group, Ruari Webster swam a brilliant PB to take gold in the 200m free and also picked up 2 bronze medals in the 100m free and 50m breast events.
City of Salford Potential Olympians Meet
Fourteen club swimmers travelled down to Salford on October 26 and 27 to compete in the Potential Olympians Meet.
This was a great opportunity to race against some different swimmers and experience team travel, some for the first time. They excelled in the environment, achieving many personal best times, coming home with a haul of 44 medals.
In the 13-year-old age group, Iona Kellock won a trio of bronze medals in the 200m breast, 100m back and 100m breaststroke events. Oscar Wharton, in his first team travel with Team DASC, won gold in the 200m breast and double bronze in the 200IM and the 50m breaststroke. Aaron Carberry completed the 13-year-old medal winners with a super swim to take silver in the 400m free.
Leading the field in the 14-year-old age group, Amber Hinton took eight gold medals from eight races in the 200IM, 100m free, 200m breast, 400m free, 50m free, 400IM, 200m free and 200m back, including a first sub 28 seconds swim in the shortest of the free distances. Lauren Dunlop swam fantastically to take a silver in the 200m fly as well as four bronze medals in the 400m free, 100m back, 200m free and 200m back.
The oldest age group was 15+ and there were five medal winners from Dumfries.
Club captain Luke Scott demonstrated brilliant backstroke skills, taking a clean sweep, achieving golds in the 50m back, 100m back and 200m back. He added to this with silvers in the 200IM, 50m breast and 400IM.
Rhys Edwards showed his sprinting prowess with gold in the 50m free and backed this up with silvers in the 50m back, 100m back, 200m free and 50m fly. Daniel Faulkner also took a brilliant silver in the 200m back and bronze in the 100m back.
Not to be outdone the club’s older girls swam brilliantly with Millie Colvin taking an amazing five gold medals in the 50m breast, 100m fly, 200m fly, 50m fly and 100m breast with a final bronze in the 50m free. Heather Kellock achieved some fantastic PBs taking home all medal colours with gold in the 400m free, silvers in the 200IM and 200m free and bronze medals in the 50m back and 200m back events.
Team manager Louisa Edwards, said: “Not only did the team perform admirably but also maintained high spirits and sportsmanship throughout the weekend. We are all excited to see how they progress throughout the remainder of the short course season.”