Borders swimmers are East's BEST

Competing over three rounds, BEST Performance squad swimmers produced some outstanding displays at Glenrothes in November and January, before finishing with a flourish in Edinburgh this month.

Last season, the squad came away with nine medals and 45 finalists over the three, increasing that to an amazing 19 medals and 61 finalists this time around.

BEST Performance development coach Lauren Jocelyn praised the progress made by all swimmers, stating there had been a big improvement since last season.

“All the hard work and dedication from the whole squad is really showing in the swimmers’ performances,” she added. “We aim to keep moving forward as we step into the long course part of the season.

“The swimmers train exceptionally hard, training up to eight times a week in the pool, so they deserve all the great results they are achieving.”

Individual success went to the following swimmers:

Erika Coupek – silver in 200m back, 50m backstroke, 100m back, 50m free, 200m IM, 100m free; bronze in 200m free and 800m free (15yrs).

Sarah Frizzel – gold in 200m breaststroke; silver in 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke (16yrs).

Lindsay Jack – silver in 50m backstroke; bronze in 200m backstroke and 100m backstroke (16yrs).

Lizzie Clelland – bronze in 200m free (17yrs).

Laura Frizzel – gold in 200m fly (14yrs).

Jodie Pyman – gold in 1500m free and 200 fly; silver in 800m free (15yrs).

The performance squad is now up to a record 26 members and provides a fantastic pathway for competitive swimmers in the Borders.

Rick Kenney, chairman of Borders Elite Swim Team management group, said: “It’s great to see the performance squad swimmers achieving these great results and improving year on year.”

The BEST Performance Programme works in partnership with Live Borders and Scottish Swimming and was established in 2008 to provide a performance training group for competitive swimmers from four local clubs at Peebles, Gala, Hawick/Teviotdale and Kelso.