City of Glasgow swimmers are celebrating this week after lifting the Scottish National Junior Team Championship title held at Tollcross International Swimming Centre last weekend. It is the second year in a row that the Club have lifted the prestigious trophy after a surprise win last season.
The unique competition pitches the top ten teams in the country against each other in a one-day head to head points competition. Only one swimmer per team is allowed to race in each event with the result dictating the points order per race, which then accumulates throughout the day to decide the overall team champion. Clubs can only use swimmers aged 16 or under but to add an extra layer of strategy, swimmers can only contest two events each and all teams must include at least four boys and four girls who are aged 14 or under in their overall squad.
The Glasgow swimmers were up against strong opposition, particularly from the Warrender and South Lanarkshire outfits. However, top three finishes in the first set of relays and some strong individual swims established an early lead. This was extended when Anna Fleming and Lawrence Campbell won back-to-back 100m Freestyle events. The afternoon session saw Warrender, South Lanarkshire and City of Aberdeen all close the gap but an important second place swim from Serena Iheagwarem and a great win from Joe Watt in the 200m Freestyle races maintained a seven point lead going into the final two relays. Nothing but fantastic team swims would be enough to secure the title and the two relay quartets duly delivered despite an initial scare when the scoreboard showed a Glasgow disqualification in error.
From the 34 contested events, the Glasgow squad took no less than 18 top three finishes, with a further 11 events placing fourth or fifth to emphasise the strength in depth in the team.
Head Performance Coach, Ian Wright commented on the club’s results: “We’re absolutely delighted to win this event for the second year in a row. On paper it looked like the best we could aim for would be a top three finish but the swimmers performed well above expectation throughout. We were able to take an early lead after some good swims in the morning session and despite some challenges in the afternoon we showed great resilience and it was a lead we never relinquished. I’m very proud of the whole squad and must also highly commend our strong coaching staff who helped bring this team together for the win.”
Final overall team points were as follows:
1st City of Glasgow Swim Team 280
2nd Warrender Baths Club 267
3rd South Lanarkshire 260
4th City of Aberdeen 240
5th FIRST 208
6th Heart of Midlothian ASC 185
7th South Ayrshire Swim Team 184
8th North Lanarkshire 179
9th Swim West Lothian 157
10th Dumfries Dolphins 103
Courtesy of Glasgow Swim Team: City of Glasgow Swim Team is one of the leading competitive swimming programmes in Scotland and the UK. The club has over 300 members and is based at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre. For more information about the club, please visit: www.swimglasgow.co.uk
