SWIMMING — Round-One Mini League Victory For Inverclyde ASCINVERCLYDE Amateur Swimming club started their mini league 2019 campaign in style with a victory.
Mini league is for swimmers 11 years and under and involves 15 clubs from across the West of Scotland competing for points in three qualifying rounds. The six highest-scoring teams at the end of the rounds go on to contest the final in June. Last year, Inverclyde ASC finished in third place and hopes are high for making the final again.
The first round match saw Inverclyde drawn against Helensburgh and fellow 2018 finalists Milngavie and Bearsden (M&B). Swimmers compete in age groups in both individual and relay swims. Five points are awarded for a win, three points for second place and two points for third place.
The competition got off to a flying start with the medley relay swims. Inverclyde claimed an early lead by scooping 26 of the 30 points on offer, with 100 per cent wins for the boys. The atmosphere was electric, but the early wins helped to settle the nerves.
In the individual swims, the boys were in dominant form, dropping just nine points from the 80 on offer. For the nine-year-olds, Josh Docherty claimed victory in the backstroke and breaststroke, and Scott Brodie won in the butterfly and freestyle. For the 10-year-olds, Archie McArthur won the butterfly and backstroke and Ryan Cummings took full points in the breaststroke and freestyle.
Swimming for the eight-year-olds, Blake Herdman and Finlay Morrice made their mini league debuts. Blake scored a first, second and third in the butterfly, freestyle and backstroke, and Finlay came second in the breaststroke. For the 11-year-olds, Peter Maloney kept up the winning form, with a double victory in the butterfly and breaststroke. Boys’ team captain Luke Garrity won the breaststroke race and came second in the freestyle.
The girls’ team included a large number of new swimmers across all age groups. While they didn’t win as many races as the boys, the girls should take encouragement from the fast times they achieved. Some of the races were incredibly close, which bodes well for future rounds.
Swimming for the eight-year-olds, Ella Morrison had a fantastic mini league debut, winning both the breaststroke and backstroke and coming second in the butterfly. Nina Spirit-Hawthorne then took second place for the 25-metre freestyle. For the nine-year-olds, Isabella McClafferty claimed victory in the freestyle, Eilidh Melrose came second in the breaststroke and Sophie Campbell claimed second and third in the butterfly and backstroke.
There were four second places for the 10-year-old girls’ team with Mirren McConnell, Eve Morrison and Skye McLellan swimming the individual races. The 11-year-olds team of Alice McClafferty, Olivia McNally and girls’ captain Charlotte Jones, scored second places in the breaststroke and backstroke and third place in the butterfly and freestyle.
A score update at the end of the individual swims showed Inverclyde retaining the lead but, with only a few points separating the teams, everything came down to the final freestyle relay events. Tension was at boiling point once again, but the screams of support from the poolside –- and from the families spectating –- motivated another dominant display from Inverclyde, scoring 34 points out of the 40 available and securing the win.
Mini league coach Kyara Finlay said: “The swimmers did a fabulous job to start our mini league campaign with a strong win this year. It’s easy to underestimate the challenge of competing against a team in their home pool, but our swimmers didn’t let that bother them and stayed focused on what they have been practising in training. This shows a competitive maturity way beyond their years for some of our youngest swimmers. Our swimmers now have a small gap before our second round, so it’s important that they keep up the hard training so we can come away from the next round with an even stronger win!”
Rounds two and three are scheduled to be contested across a single weekend, putting pressure on the swimmers to be at their peak and be able to sustain it. Mini league can be exhausting -– the team spirit is incredible, but racing and cheering on teammates for four hours at a time can really tire the swimmers out. The challenge will be ensuring the swimmers get enough rest and recovery after round two to let them return energised and excited for round three. With a place in the final at stake, the club is confident the young team will rise to the challenge.
