2019 SCOTTISH NATIONAL AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday March 27th – Sunday, March 31st
- Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
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The 2019 Scottish National Age Group Championships (SNAGs) wrapped up in Glasgow last night, with the meet hosting over 1000 young swimmers from across 90 clubs at the storied Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
When all was said and done after the 5-day affair, Edinburgh’s Warrender Baths Club earned ‘Top Club’ honors, as the squad leaped out in front of the team standings from day 1 and kept its momentum going throughout. The top 5 finishing clubs in the overall standings were as follows:
| Placing | Club | Points |
| 1 | Warrender Baths Club | 1273 |
| 2 | City of Glasgow Swim Team | 784 |
| 3 | University of Aberdeen Performance Swim Team | 501 |
| 4 | Heart of Midlothian | 493 |
| 5 | Swim West Lothian | 484.5 |
Key Performers:
City of Glasgow’s Katie Shanahan had the meet of her life, picking up the Best Performance Award for females 16&U. Over the course of the meet Shanahan collected a massive 8 gold medals, while she also nabbed two Scottish Age Group Records.
The 14-year-old clocked a monster 200m IM time of 2:16.03 to take the win and also set a new Scottish Age Group Record in the process. That blasted away her previous career-fastest and Age Record of 2:18.21 from just March 21st.
Her 200m IM gold was added to her individual win in the 400m freestyle, where the athlete clocked a Scottish Age Group Record (14 years) by posting a time of 4:21.33. That easily overtook the previous mark of 4:22.40 set by Rebecca Murray back in 2012.
The budding star Shanahan’s additional victories came in the following events:
- 200m back – 2:15.06
- 100m free – 58.38
- 200m breast – 2:37.73
- 100m back – 1:04.51
- 800m free – 9:05.00
- 200m free – 2:05.26
Shanahan’s teammate Mark Ford also took home Best Performance by a male 16&U for his 100m backstroke outing at the meet. He dominated the race wire-to-wire, turning in a final time of 57.97. That represented the only man in the race to dip under the 1:00 threshold.
Of his race, Ford stated,“I am so happy with that, training has been going really well but leading up to this meet I was having a few issues with push offs, but that’s turned out well and I’m really chuffed.
“Coming into this meet I had no expectations but my coach and I did talk through plans for the season. The British Championships have always been the main focus for me. We’re training through SNAGS so it is quite tough, but to PB is brilliant and it’s great that I’ll have to adjust my goals again ahead of British.”
Ford swept the fly events at Tollcross, collecting the following times, while he also reaped 50m back gold in 27.02:
- 50m fly – 26.55
- 100m fly – 57.39
- 200m fly – 2:06.17
Stefan Krawiec of East Lothian took 2 golds right off the bat for the 13-year age group, taking the 100m back in 1:05.08 and the 50m fly in 27.20. The latter outing represents a new Scottish Age Group Record, surpassing the previous time for 13-year-olds of 27.43.
Krawiec would also go on to win the boys’ 11-14 200m fly in 2:20.99, the 50m breast in 33.15 and the 400m free in 4:20.04. Krawiec also notched the 100m fly gold in 1:00.42, as well as the 200m free for his age group in 2:01.74.
South Ayrshire’s Katie Robertson also made her mark on these championships, breaking two Scottish Age Records. She first broke through with a lifetime best mark of 32.13 in the 50m breaststroke, overtaking the previous Age Record for 17-year-olds of 32.14 by just .01. That old mark had been on the books since 2014.
Roberton’s next Age Record victim was the 200m breast, where she hacked over 1 1/2 seconds off the previous age standard. She earned gold in 2:30.39, easily dipping under the Age Record of 2:31.99 set by Rachael O’Donnell in 2014.
A few of the University of Stirling stars were in the pool to add some prestige to these championships, with Duncan Scott, Aimee Willmott and Ross Murdoch among the big guns giving extra motivation to the young age groupers.
Willmott was scheduled to swim the 400m IM, but wound up scratching the event. She still got in the pool as a member of Stirling’s gold medal-garnering 4x100m medley relay, splitting 1:12.28 in breast.
Murdoch made his appearance in the 50m breaststroke prelims, taking the 2nd seed in 28.11 before scratching the final.
Scott threw down a casual 2:01.07 to take the men’s 200m fly event in the 17&O category, but his big swim came in the form of his 4x100m medley relay anchor.
Helping thrust Stirling onto the podium along with teammates Craig McNally (56.48), Craig Benson (1:00.45) and Callum Lawrie (56.20), Scott hammered out an in-season anchor of 48.18 to lay waste to the field.
Splitting 22.83/25.35 on his anchor, Scott’s serious speed still a few weeks out from British Championships is perhaps a sign of what the Olympic finalist is harnessing, waiting to unleash both domestically and in Gwangju later this summer.
Look for a photo vault of these championships to be published soon.