Hope for Borders swimmers following national championships
Published 10 Jan 2012 09:30
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FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD swimmer Lucy Hope claimed her first senior national medal at the Scottish National Short Course Championships.
She took bronze in the women's open 200m backstroke at the championships held in Inverness last month.
Hope, competing for the Borders Elite Swim Team (B.E.S.T.) and Kelso Amateur Swimming Club, fell just one one hundredth of a second short of the Scottish national 14 years record for the event.
She also claimed gold and silver medals in the 14 & under 100m individual medley and 400m freestyle respectively, and placed 4th in both the open 50m and 100m backstroke.
Lucy broke three East District Age Group Records and recorded numerous British Youth qualifying times during the course of the meet.
Ryan Brown, also a member of Kelso ASC, broke an East District Age Group Record on his way to recording the quickest time by a 13-year-old in the open 200m backstroke.
He also achieved a British Youth qualifying time for the 400m individual medley in placing 3rd in his first national open B final and again posting the quickest time by a 13-year-old. In fact, Brown recorded the quickest time by a 13-year-old in seven events.
Another member of Kelso ASC, Kirsty Armstong achieved the quickest time by a 12 year old in the 14 and under 400m individual medley finishing just out of the medals with an expert performance and solid PB.
Armstrong was the quickest 12-year-old in a further 7 open and 14 & under events. She also recorded several British Age Group qualifying times during the course of the competition.
Morgan Anderson, also a member of Kelso ASC, achieved 4 PB's despite battling an incapacitating injury over several weeks of his preparation for the meet. He contested his first Scottish senior final placing 7th in the open men's B final of the 200m breaststroke.
He was the best placed 14-year-old in this event in addition to the open 100m breaststroke and open 100m individual medley.
Borders Performance Coach, Alex Jordan, said: "Lucy Hope really deserved her first senior national medal with improved training efforts and a superb tactical performance in the 200m backstroke.
"Ryan Brown raced fearlessly against much more mature opposition in his events, including the B final of the open 400m individual medley. Kirsty Armstrong raced extremely well under the duress of a very busy programme including her flawless performance in the 14 years and under 400m individual medley.
"Morgan Anderson showed great character and confidence in achieving such great results coming off a debilitating injury.
"With only four swimmers competing, B.E.S.T. made a real impact at this competition. I'm extremely proud of these swimmers who have trained hard and raced extremely well to achieve these very impressive results."
All four swimmers train with Swim Team Borders which is an initiative of the Borders Performance Development Programme.
The programme runs in partnership with Scottish Swimming, Borders Sport & Leisure Trust and five local swimming clubs including Teviotdale, Peebles, Kelso, Gala and Duns.
Members from these clubs have the opportunity to join Swim Team Borders which involves attending morning training sessions with Coach Jordan.
The programme has been a catalyst for impressive results from Borders swimmers at local to international levels so far. For more information see the swimming page of the Sport Borders website www.sportborders.org.uk
This article appeared in Border Telegraph 10 Jan 12
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