Silver and bronze for Thurso swimmers in schools championships
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Two pupils from Thurso High School were among the medals at the Scottish schools championships in East Kilbride.
Tom Armitage and Emily MacDougall both tasted success in their favoured event, the 200-metre backstroke, with Tom securing silver and Emily bronze. They both also qualified for the 100 backstroke finals, narrowly missing out on second medals.
They were joined at the competition by several Thurso Amateur Swimming Club members – Keira Bain, Jed Armitage, Aiden Williamson and Esme Waller – who were also fast enough to achieve qualification times.
Thurso was also well represented at the Scottish National Age Group Swimming Championships, with seven swimmers competing on behalf of the Highland Swim Team.
Five achieved individual qualification times – Tom Armitage, Aiden Williamson, Jed Armitage, Emily MacDougall and Edward Mills – and a further two were selected to compete in the relay events.
Craig Campbell was selected for two relays and became faster as the competition progressed, equipping himself well in the 100 free legs. For Max Armitage it was his first time in a 50m pool and he swam well for the team in the 100 back leg, swimming faster than his short-course time.
All five individual event swimmers managed finals places.
Edward Mills was among the medals, with his performance in the 15-year age group 200 fly final earning a bronze. He also qualified for a swim in the 100 fly final and achieved a number of personal bests.
He had a particularly good swim in the 400m individual medley, improving his entry time by seven seconds.
Jed Armitage was one of Thurso’s busiest swimmers, qualifying for 11 individual events in the 16/17 category. He achieved finals places in the 50 back and 200 fly and a reserve place for the 100 back.
He secured fifth position in his age group for the 1500m freestyle, which also earned him a Thurso club record for his age group and all time. He had similar success in the 200 fly by reaching the final and taking the club all-time and age-group records.
Emily MacDougall was Thurso’s most successful female swimmer, qualifying for eight individual swims and three relay events.
Her first swim of the competition was 200m back. She had a strong heat swim, managing a PB, and secured a place in the evening finals. Once in the finals she again managed to drop some time and finished in seventh place.
She had a good 100m free race, just off her PB, meaning she missed the final, placing 14th.
The following day she swam 100m backstroke and 400 IM and despite just being off her PB she narrowly missed out on a final place in the 100 back. But a strong swim in the 400 IM saw her improve her PB this time.
In the 50m free Emily had the highlight of her competition, qualifying for the final with an excellent swim and PB in the heats. She was to improve this even further in the final and finished eighth.
Despite another PB she just missed out on another final place in the 200 free, finishing in 14th position – all in all an impressive week of swimming for the Scottish academy swimmer.
Aiden Williamson showed he is not just a breaststroke specialist by also gaining a PB in the 400 IM and performing well for the team in the relay events by going under a minute for 100 free for the first time.
It was the breaststroke that was to bring him the most success, however, gaining PBs in the 200m and 400m events and reaching the 200m final. He managed to take the Thurso club record for the 200m breast for his 16/17 age group and the all-time record.
He also bagged the club 16/17 record for the 100 breaststroke.
Tom Armitage had a relatively quiet meet by his standards, selecting five events but swimming as a 17-year-old in the higher 17/18 category. Remarkably he managed to exactly replicate his PB in the 200 free and swam close to his entry for his 200 IM.
He qualified for the final of his favoured event, 200 back, and swam strongly in a fiercely contested final – all good experience for him when he represents the Scottish Swimming North District in Portugal in June.
