Stirling Standouts Make Waves At Scottish West Districts
Ross Murdoch produced a solid, in-season 2:12.57 200 breast winning effort at the Scottish West Districts over the weekend. Archive photo via Ian MacNicol/ScottishSwimming
by Retta Race 0
February 04th, 2019 Britain, International, News, Previews & Recaps
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SCOTTISH WEST DISTRICT 2019 LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 2
Saturday, February 2nd – Sunday, February 3rd
Tollcross International Swim Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
Although labeled a championship meet, the big guns at training hotbeds such as University of Stirling are under heavy training and approached the 2019 Scottish West District competition as more of a baseline to gauge where they're at kicking off a new calendar year. Stirling standouts Duncan Scott, Ross Murdoch, Craig Benson, Aimee Willmott and more made several appearances, although times overall were indicative of the start of a new season.
Meet Highlights
The winningest Scot ever at a Commonwealth Games, 22-year-old Scott, took home four golds across the 2-day affair, starting with a 50m fly victory in 24.88. He was .01 faster in the morning, registering a heat time of 24.87, but still fired off the only sub-25 second time of the field in the evening to stand atop the West District podium.
Scott followed up with an off-event, the men's 200m backstroke, where the versatile swimmer got his hand on the wall first in 2:04.52, a new personal best in this rarely-raced event for him.
The Olympic medalist's next event was the 200m IM, where he snagged the top prize in 2:05.15, well-off his usual championship range of 1:57-1:58. He closed out his Tollcross haul with a 23.08 in the men's 50m free for gold.
For his part, 25-year-old Commonwealth Games medalist Murdoch produced a solid 200m breast, registering a wining effort of 2:12.57. Splitting relatively evenly at 1:05.89/1:06.68, Murdoch and teammate Benson represented the only athletes in the race to swim below the 2:22 mark. Benson finished just about 2 seconds behind his teammate with a mark of 2:14.55.
Stirling swimmer and 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Willmott produced the win in the women's 200m back, clocking 2:15.68, while the 26-year-old also wrapped up the 50m fly in 28.29. Willmott was victorious in the women's 200m IM as well, touching in 2:14.44.
Additional medalists this weekend included Katie Robertson of South Ayrshire, with the 18-year-old taking the women's 50m breast in 32.08, as well as the 200m free in 2:06.15. Robertson's personal best in the former event is 31.68, while her PB in the latter is 2:05.57.
Yvonne Brown, 17, was the 200m breaststroke winner for the women in 2:35.69, just off her lifetime best of 2:34.73 from one week ago.
Criag McLean took the men's 200m free in 1:52.51, while Craig McNally topped the men's 50m back field in 26.30.
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Duncan Scott
Ross Murdoch
About Retta Race
After 16 years at a Fortune 1000 financial company, long-time swimmer Retta Race decided to change lanes and pursue her sporting passion. She currently is Coach for the Northern KY Swordfish Masters, a team she started up in December 2013, while also offering private coaching. Retta is also an MBA …
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