SWIMMING — Strong Performances From Inverclyde ASC Squad At Bellshill Event

EIGHTEEN Inverclyde Amateur Swimming Club swimmers took to the pool at the Bellshill Sharks Open achieving a great set of results.

Completing almost 100 individual swims, they secured top-six finishes in half of them and an incredible 27 medals — one gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze.

Winning the gold medal was Kian McNelis, pictured right, who took victory in the 400-metre individual medley (IM). Silvers also came in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke, where he came tantalisingly close to a new personal best (PB). Kian also scooped a bronze in the 100m backstroke to complete his medal set. He continued to perform consistently well across his other events -– the 50m backstroke and butterfly and 100m freestyle –- to achieve high placings.

The most prolific medal winner of the weekend was Cameron Beck, taking home six silvers and two bronze medals across his 10 events, as well as achieving eight new PBs. Medals came in the finals of all of the 50m events — silvers for the butterfly, freestyle and backstroke and bronze for the breaststroke. The remaining three silvers came in the 100m and 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly, with a bronze in the 200m breaststroke. And despite not medalling in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke, Cameron finished in the top six with new fastest times.

From left, Cameron Beck, Eilidh Melrose, Ellis Quigley, and Aaron Gray

Also pulling in an impressive medal haul was Aaron Gray who went home with four silvers for the 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke and freestyle. Further top-six finishes came in the 50m butterfly and freestyle and 200m IM, followed by good swims in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and the 100m freestyle. Undoubtedly though, Aaron was most delighted with his new PBs in the 50m butterfly and 200m freestyle.

Youngster Eilidh Melrose had a great competition, winning medals in four out of her five races and securing new PBs in every event. Silver medals came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, and bronzes in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly. Eilidh’s butterfly performance was particularly impressive — she started the day as a reserve for the event and set a huge eight-second PB on her way to the bronze medal. There was also a fifth-place finish in the 50m backstroke to round off an impressive set of results.

Fellow 10-year-old Ellis Quigley almost made it 100 per cent PBs and took home two bronze medals from her eight events. The medals came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, with Ellis also securing top-six placings in the 50m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle and the 200m freestyle. She also finished well in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle. PBs were set in all events except the 100m freestyle, where she missed out by just a fraction of a second.

Other medal winners were Molly Cannon, Nathan Peoples and Lukas Kong. Molly was competing in the 400m IM, picking up a silver medal for her efforts. Nathan won a bronze medal for the 100m butterfly and swam to top-six finishes in the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 200m IM, with a new PB in the 50m fly.

Lukas Kong grabbed a bronze medal for his 400m freestyle. He also secured top-six finishes in the 50m breaststroke and 200m freestyle, high placings in the 50m freestyle and 100m backstroke, and five new PBs.

Outside of the medals, there were encouraging performances from a number of other swimmers. Abbie Logan had top-six finishes in the 200m IM and freestyle and set a new PB in the 50m freestyle. April Craynor set three new PBs across her six events and swam well to finish inside the top 10 in her 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly events.

Competing in seven events, Anna McClafferty had top-six finishes in the 200m and 400m freestyle and placed highly in several others. Mya McNelis swam right on her times to place well in both her 50m freestyle and 100m backstroke events.

Competing at the younger end of the 13 to 14 age group, a number of swimmers performed extremely well for their age to achieve high-place finishes and new best times. Lewis Gray was particularly impressive setting seven PBs across his nine events and finishing in the top-six in both the 100m butterfly and 200m breaststroke. He also achieved another four top-10 finishes.

Lucy Campbell swam close to her best in all four of her events, and managed a fifth-place finish in the 200m freestyle. Holly Beck set five new PBs across her eight events and Keira McKee made it three PBs out of three.

It was also a successful competition for the two youngest swimmers representing the club — Oliver Gibson and Adam Quigley. Both performed well in a tough age group to improve their times in their 50m breaststroke and freestyle events with Adam also setting a new PB in the 50m backstroke.