Youngsters in record form at Thurso swim meet
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Joining the home club were Wick ASC, Tain, Skye Dolphins, Forres Bluefins, Forres Freestyle, Inverness, Orkney and Elgin.
The meet kicked off with the relay heats. The two Thurso boys’ teams qualified for the final in the 14-and-over 200m medley relay as first and fourth fastest while Wick came seventh.
In the girls’ 13-and-under 200m freestyle relay, Thurso “A” qualified third for the final with Thurso “B” sixth and Wick seventh.
The Thurso older girls and younger boys went straight into the finals for their events.
In the first individual event, the 15-and-over 100m breaststroke, Thurso got off to a great start with a meet record of 1:17.40 produced by Ellie Spencer. The previous record was set in 1996.
In the boys’ event, Tim Ridgley was the fastest Thurso swimmer, coming fourth with a PB of 1:17.54.
Emma Budge continued the points scoring for Thurso with a third in the 13-to-14 butterfly (1:19.74). Jody Anderson of Inverness won the event with a meet record of 1:10.58.
In the 10-and-under 50m butterfly, Eve Nicoll came second in 41.36.
In the boys’ section, Euan Macdonald (39.62) took first and Mark McCoustra (42.56) second.
Katie Mackay came fourth in 11-to-12 100m freestyle with a PB of 1:09.13.
In the boys’ competition, Jordan Bain was second (1:10.80) and Taylor Davidson third (1:12.85).
The first session finished with the relay finals, starting with the 14-and-over women’s medley relay. Emma Budge led off the backstroke leg to put Thurso in the lead over Elgin. Nicole Cowie was unable to hold off Elgin on the breaststroke leg but Ellie Spencer put Thurso back into the lead on the fly leg almost immediately. By the end of the butterfly leg Thurso had a seven-second cushion over Orkney who by this stage had also overhauled Elgin. Isla Cartwright took Thurso to victory on the front crawl leg. Final result – Thurso 2:14.69, Orkney 2:20.80, Elgin 2:23.53.
In the boys’ event, Thurso “A” trailed the other teams after the backstroke leg with Orkney first, Thurso “B” second and Elgin third. Thurso “A” overtook Thurso “B” and Elgin on the breaststroke leg, with Orkney remaining first.
Thurso “A” and “B” were third and fourth after the butterfly leg with Elgin pushing back to second. In a very tight finish, Thurso “A” took the race on the freestyle leg. Final result – 1 Thurso “A” 2:04.32. 2 Elgin 2:05.19. 3 Orkney 2:05.92. 4 Thurso “B”.
In the 13-and-under girls’ freestyle relay, Orkney “A” took the victory in a new meet record of 2:01.97. Thurso finished second in 2:13.22 with a superb fourth leg; third went to Orkney “B” (2:13.79) and fourth to Elgin (2:14.87).
In the boys’ event, Thurso “A” were the clear winners in 2:08.45. But a tussle developed between Thurso “B” and Wick “A” with the Thurso “B” team eventually getting the advantage to finish in 2:24.53 with Wick “A” 2:25.17 and Wick “B” 2:33.04.
The second session started with the 50m female open freestyle. Thurso’s Ellie Spencer (28.69) and Emma Budge (29.8), Wick’s Stephanie Webster (29.76) and Freestyle’s Susan Fraser (29.19) qualified for the final.
In the male event, Thurso’s Shaun Gray (26.37) qualified for the final along with Robbie More and Calum More, of Inverness, (25.14 and 26.40) and Johnston Macpherson-Stewart, of Freestyle (26.54).
Many Thurso swimmers managed to breach the 30-second barrier – Jamie Mackinnon (27.98), Rorie Stewart (28.02), Tim Ridgley (28.42) and Bryan Stevenson (28.96).
Eve Nicoll took first in the 10-and-under 50m backstroke in a PB of 39.30.
A Thurso one-two-three was achieved by Thurso boys Euan Macdonald (41.14), Mark McCoustra (42.52) and Dean Davidson (43.49).
Emma Budge won the 13-to-14 100m freestyle in 1:03.11 but was pushed hard by Jody Anderson of Inverness, less than a fifth of a second behind in 1:03.27.
For the boys, Craig Yuille came second with a PB of 1:02.37.
Katie Mackay came second in the 11-to-12 100m breaststroke with a seven-second PB of 1:31.13. Elgin’s Sophia Green produced a meet record of 1:20.14 for first.
For the Thurso boys, Taylor Davidson’s PB of 1:42.50 gave him fourth place.
Eve Nicoll’s PB of 35.53 gave her second in the 10-and-under 50m freestyle with Alix Mackay fourth in 37.21.
Euan Macdonald notched up another first in 35.30 with Mark McCoustra fourth (37.21).
Session three started with the two open 50m freestyle finals.
In the women’s event, Ellie Spencer was in control from the start, winning in 28.33, a meet record.
Freestyle’s Susan Fraser took second with 28.94, Emma Budge came third in 29.17 and Wick’s Stephanie Webster was fourth in 29.85.
Robbie More of Inverness took the male race in 25.73. Shaun Gray came second with a PB of 26.49.
Katie Mackay produced a PB of 1:18.06 to get third in the 11-to-12 100m backstroke.
Thurso swimmers did well in the boys’ event, getting second, third and fourth with Taylor Davidson (1:21.36), Jordan Bain (1:22.41) and Stephen Forbes (1:34.37).
Jack Duncan of Orkney came first with a meet record of 1:12.85.
Emma Budge and Isla Cartwright scored a Thurso one-two in the 13-to-14 100m breaststroke with 1:22.77 and 1:28.00.
In the boys’ event, Craig Yuille came third with a PB of 1:22.06. The event was won in a new meet record of 1:14.86 by Callum McBeath of Forres.
Ellie Spencer finished the day with her third meet record of 1:07.66 in the 15-and-over 100m butterfly, with Wick’s Stephanie Webster second in 1:12.03. Shaun Gray scored more points for Thurso with a fourth in 1:07.98.
Sunday’s session started with relay heats, with Thurso’s two 14-and-over male teams qualifying for the final as first and fourth fastest. Wick finished seventh.
In the 13-and-under girls’ medley relay, Thurso “A” qualified as second fastest.
The 15-and-over 100m freestyle saw Ellie Spencer beating the meet record set in 1985 with a time of 1:00.75. Wick’s Stephanie Webster came third in 1:04.68. Shaun Gray took third in 58.77.
Dipping below a minute for the first time produced a fourth place for Rorie Stewart whose time was 59.61.
Emma Budge broke the meet record for the 13-to-14 100m backstroke with a time of 1:08.57.
Katie Mackay achieved a time of 1:18.02 in the 100m fly to give her second. Elgin’s Sophia Green took first with a new meet record of 1:11.82.
Jordan Bain took second in 1:27.82 and Taylor Davidson third in a PB of 1:34.22 in the boys’ event.
Alix Mackay’s 50m breaststroke PB saw her getting second in the 10-and-under competition.
The meet closed with the final four relays.
The 13-and-under medley relay saw Lucy Macdonald lead off with the backstroke leg. Gaby Macgregor took over on the breaststroke leg, followed by Katie Mackay who pulled the team from third to second. Bryony Jack gained on Elgin while holding off Orkney to achieve second. Finish times – Elgin 2:29.91, Thurso 2:33.16, Orkney 2:34.07, Inverness 2:56.53.
The boys’ event was far more clear-cut with Thurso “A” and Thurso “B” taking first and second in 2:21.81 and 2:41.16. Wick came in third and fourth in 2:51.25 and 3:01.96.
The next race – the 14-and-over women’s freestyle – saw the crowd crank up the volume in a keenly contested race.
Emma Budge led off with a lead but all three teams were within two seconds of each other. Emma Mackay took over, maintaining the lead over Elgin but dropping behind Orkney.
Isla Cartwright increased the gap over Elgin and marginally reduced the gap with Orkney. Ellie Spencer chased the Orkney swimmer on the final leg, overhauling her in the last five metres.
The race finished Thurso 2:02.83, Orkney 2:03.29 and Elgin 2:10.06.
The boys’ event was also hotly contested with Elgin taking a narrow lead over Thurso “A” on the first leg. But the lead had swapped over by the end of the second leg with the gap being increased by Thurso’s third and fourth swimmers. The final result was 1 Thurso “A” 1:47.96, 2 Elgin 1:49.32, 3 Orkney 1:51.46, Thurso “B” 1:56.04.
The Spargo Trophies for the best 10-and-under swimmers went to Elise Green of Elgin and Euan Macdonald of Thurso.
The Mowat Cups for the 50m open went to Ellie Spencer of Thurso and Robbie More of Inverness.
The Bentley Cup for the best Thurso performer went to Ellie Spencer who broke four meet records.
Team points – Tain 0, Skye Dolphins 1, Freestyle 6, Forres Bluefins 32, Wick 51, Inverness 56, Elgin 113 and Thurso 213. The Munro Shield for the best team went to Thurso as the clear winners.
