Published: Friday, 23rd January, 2009 12:40pm

Carnegie finish sixth in nationals despite pool closure

Comments (0) | Print | Email

DESPITE struggling to get training time due to the closure of Carnegie Leisure Centre, one of their main training venues, Carnegie Swimming Club finished sixth in the weekend"s Scottish National Short Course Championships.

The competition was attended by Olympic and Commonwealth swimmers and all the major composite clubs in Scotland as well as local and district clubs.

The stars of the weekend for Carnegie were the women"s relay team quartet of Kathryn Johnston, Eloise Barber, Ailsa Hershaw and Blaine Small, who swam exceptionally well, holding off 20 other teams to finish second to Warrender of Edinburgh in the 4 x 50 medley relay, the 4 x 50 freestyle relay and the 4 x 100 freestyle relay for their third silver medal of the weekend.

Thomas Davidson was delighted to return to the podium, winning a silver medal in the 50m butterfly in a time of 25:12.

Kathryn Johnston, Carnegie"s breaststroke specialist, claimed two bronze medals in the 200m and 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:11.32, setting a new Scottish age group record.

In the 200m individual medley, Eloise Barber took a full two seconds off her entry time, picking up the bronze medal in a time of 2:15.84.

In the 100m individual medley Barber again improved and broke her own Scottish age group record in 1:04.09.

In the backstroke events she claimed the bronze.

Roo Kerr took eight seconds off her entry time in the 200m breaststroke, finishing in 2:50.74, and six seconds off her 100m individual medley swim, finishing in 1:11.89.

Kirsten McCallum made the B final of the 50m backstroke and created a new personal best time of 32:75.

The boys" 15-and-under age group events saw 13-year-old Mark Szaranek compete in the gruelling 1500m freestyle, finishing in 16:56.58 to set a new East District record.

He was the fastest 13-year-old and set another PB in the 400m freestyle, finishing in 4:18.94.

He also set new PBs in the 100m and 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 400 and 100m individual medleys.