22 Sep 2007 - 1st Div team take a step nearer the title

Olympia hosted the penultimate 1^st Division gala of the 2007 season on Saturday 22^nd Sept.

 

As things were set, it was important for our hopes of winning this league to be able to field a strong team and probably more importantly, finish ahead of Kinross who were breathing down our necks after their win in the previous gala at Arbroath in August.

 

Team Manager, Charlie White, had worked hard in the lead up to this gala to ensure that we were in a position to compete in all the relays with a full team as it is undoubtedly in this area where points can change hands quickly and change the outcome of the result. Fortunately, all of our swimmers were available and raring to get stuck in, so we had a positive frame of mind.

 

So to the real business of the day and what a great start we had in the medley relays taking an early 10 point lead over closest rivals Kinross. Blairgowrie pulled out all the stops and were only a point behind 2^nd place with Menzieshill back in 4^th and Monifieth trailing behind at the back of the pack. A good example of the competitiveness at this gala was the 13/14 boys where only ourselves and Kinross fielded teams, Kinross appeared to have the lead all the way, but on the freestyle leg we so nearly clawed things back just being pipped to the touch by the smallest margin of 1/100^th sec.

 

Kinross were not going to give up the fight and started to claw back at our lead firstly cutting it to 7 points and then back to 6 points by the end of the 2^nd Individual round. During the 2^nd Individual round Kinross had at one point overhauled our lead and opened up a 6 point lead themselves so we did well to rectify the points margin.

Mention should go to Menzieshill who had a great round, easily outscoring all of the others to storm up into 3^rd place and must have had an eye on the possibility of 2^nd if their good form continued.

 

The 3^rd Individual round saw DCA have the best of things where we managed to open up the lead to a more comfortable 10 points. By this time Blairgowrie and Menzieshill were having a ‘ding dong’ battle for third with Blair having a good round to overhaul Menzieshill and hold a handy 3 point lead. Worthy of mention was Daisy Forster’s gutsy performance to overcome a 50m deficit to just touch out the Kinross backstroker at the finish.

 

The final individual round belonged most definitely to Kinross as they again fought hard in every race and reduced our lead to a mere 3 points. It was looking like a tight finish again!! Closest race of the evening, as if we could have had a closer one than the 13/14 boys medley, was the 15+ girls fly. Going up the 3^rd length it was looking as though Megan Finlayson may have had to settle for 3^rd behind Kinross and Menzieshill. Her fighting qualities saw her overcome the Menzieshill swimmer and although the referee and finish judges all had her pipped into 2^nd, the electronics do not lie and it was a dead heat. That extra point could prove to be so important.

 

Entering the last round, we knew we had the advantage of Kinross missing their 15+ girls relay, but we needed to ensure there were no faulty changeovers etc.

The <10 boys set us up for a great win with their narrow victory over rivals Kinross and from here we went on to secure a most valuable victory which will hopefully make the trip to Kinross on he final day of the season a more comfortable one.

 

Kinross will have been disappointed, but again showed that they have a well run club most certainly capable of competing at this level.

 

Blairgowrie’s hopes of3rd spot were dashed at the very end as both of Menzieshill’s senior teams managed to help them to a narrow 2 point margin which would appear to have them in a solid mid table position. Blairgowrie will need to slug it out with Monifieth to avoid the drop to Div 2 on the last day of the season.

 

Well done to all our swimmers and thanks to all the coaches / officials who turned out in numbers to make this gala the success that it was.

 

Full result

 

1st        DCA                 174.5 points     (5)

2nd       Kinross            164.5 points     (4)

3rd      Menzieshill       134 points        (3) 

4th       Blairgowrie      132 points        (2)

5th       Monifieth          74 points         (1)

  

Overall positions after 4 galas

 

DCA                 19

Kinross            16

Menzieshill      11 

Blairgowrie      6

Monifieth         6 (deducted 1 point for non appearance at 1st gala)