Dolphins do well in East District swimming
Members of the Delting Dolphins swimming team went to the East District open championships at the weekend.
Jake Swanson, in the 14 years age group, won for the first time at this high level of competition. He stormed through to come first in the 200m individual medley in a new personal best. He also swam well in the 200m freestyle to come second, slicing a good two seconds from his time. To complete his medal-winning ways he finished third in the 200m breaststroke.
Felix Gifford and Tom Raikes were both swimming in the tough open events against some of Scotland’s best.
In their first event, the 400m freestyle, both swam very well, with Felix breaking the Shetland 15/16 and open records to come fifth and Tom finishing eighth.
In the 200m butterfly Felix won through to the final and Tom was reserve. In the final Felix improved his time to come seventh and Tom was lucky enough to get a swim, also improving his time to come eighth In the second session Felix swam to a place in the final of the 100m freestyle and again Tom was reserve.
In the 50m butterfly the boys changed places with Tom reaching the final and Felix, although swimming a PB, being reserve.
Felix swam in the last event of the session, the 400m IM, where he broke the 15/16 Shetland record to come sixth.
With very little rest Felix took to the water in the 100m freestyle final where he finished fifth, just on his heat time. Tom swam well in his 50m butterfly final to come eighth.
On Sunday Felix broke the 15/16 Shetland record in the 200m freestyle, then improved his PB in the 100m breaststroke. Both boys swam well in the 50m freestyle to be on their PBs, narrowly missing the final.
In the final session Felix broke the 15/16 and open Shetland 200m IM records, enabling him to reach the final. Tom swam well to take the reserve spot. In the final event, the 100m butterfly, both Felix and Tom swam on their PBs with Felix managing to reach the final.
Both of Felix’s finals were close together. He swam the 200m IM to come eighth and with only the girls’ 50m butterfly in between he also finished eighth in the 100m butterfly, showing great strength of character.
