10 Nov 2007 - 2nd Div team take Runners Up spot

The final 2nd Div gala saw a full looking bus taking the team up the coast to Montrose on Sat 10th Nov.

 

We knew we were short of 11/12 boys where we had a number of call off's but we were also one swimmer short , try as we may to find a reserve, for our Senior Girls team who usually produce good points for us. This may prove to have handicapped us too much but often the others are short of a relays team or two, so maybe it just evened things up ??

 

St Thomas got of to the best start in their bid for the title and took an early lead over Monifieth in 2nd with us another couple of points back in 3rd.

 

Hosts Montrose and St Thomas had the best of the early individual swims and we were left at the back of the field, albeit by just a solitary point, so all was not lost yet.

 

The second of the individual rounds saw DCA having the best of it  to take joint 2nd place with Montrose. St Thomas had what looked to be a winning lead of 15 points, quite a margin !

 

Round three of the individuals saw Montrose take a magnificent 30 points out of a possible 40 to leave them just 7 adrift of leaders St Thomas, maybe they had the scent of a home victory ? We were again at the back of the pack, but knew we had some strong swims to come.

By the time the individuals were completed, the whole gala had narrowed to 12 points separating first from last. Yet again, it would be down to the free relays to decide the placings.

 

Montrose again felt the disadvantage of not fielding relay teams as they could only watch as both Monifieth and ourselves overtook them to leave them adrift at the bottom. Monifieth got the better of us to take second spot while we had to settle for third.

 

St Thomas stretched their lead again with the relays to make it a comfortable winning margin of 13 points.

 

So, that was it for the 2nd Div for 2007. St Thomas started with a win and finished with two and quite rightly enjoyed their glory moment in lifting the trophy.

 

After the start we had, runers up spot was a great result, maybe next year will see us go one better. We gave St Thomas a fright and made this league one of the most competitive in years.

 

Monifieth too had their eye on glory, but they too came up short at the end of the day.

 

Montrose, being a 1st team will no doubt have been disappointed with fourth spot and paid the price for their lack of relay teams especially in the last two galas. They will no doubt come back stronger next year as the have some excellent young swimmers.

 

Aberfeldy didn't manage to compete in the last two galas and filled bottom spot. Hopefully they will be able to compete with a stronger team next year.

 

Thanks go to all our swimmers / coaches / helpers / officials all of whom we need to make these galas the success and enjoyment that they undoubtably are.

 

Swimmers, keep training hard and make sure you are part of next years teams !!

 

Full result

 

1^st        St Thomas        158 (5) 

2^nd        Monifieth        145 (4)

3^rd        DCA                143 (3)

4^th        Montrose         140 (2)

 

Aberfeldy deducted 1 point for not fielding a team

 

Final positions after 5 galas

 

 

1^st        St Thomas        22

2^nd        DCA                17

3^rd        Monifieth        16

4^th        Montrose         12

5^th        Aberfeldy        4