Largs swimmer Isla Waller was on the podium as the North Ayrshire team more than quadrupled their medal count at their first big test of the year at the West District Junior Age Group championships at Tollcross.
“I was over the moon with how the swimmers performed,” reports Junior Coach, Alan Dickson.
“Last year we had 14 swimmers at the meet and came back with 3 medals. This year we had 20 and came back with 14. Those numbers speak for themselves.
“We’ve had a really good block of training and that’s been borne out in the way they performed.
Isla Waller claimed a bronze medal with a gusty 4 second PB in the punishing 200m fly having started the weekend with a 7 second PB in the 800m free.
The 12-year-old missed out on a second medal by just a tenth of a second in the 100m fly.
Largs teammate Daniel Convery (12) found nearly 9 seconds in the 200m IM to dip under 3 minutes for the first time.
For Alan the JAGS meet is a very important early season marker, as he explains: “It’s the first meet where we can see how the plan I put together in the summer is playing out. It’s a marker that lets me see how swimmers are progressing after a reasonable spell of training.
“It gives them a chance to work on ‘process’ and having heats and finals for the 100m events and the 200m IM means we’re asking them to get their heads around needing to swim fast to get into the top ten. They need to plan for that and get used to repeating their pre-pool warm ups and maintain their focus.
“Some swimmers find that a bit daunting but it’s the reality for age group swimmers and excellent preparation if you get to go to the Scottish national championships in future.
“I’m really looking forward to the rest of the short course season running up to Christmas.”