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Swimmers from Edinburgh’s Warrender Baths Club are celebrating this week after being crowned the Top Scottish Club at the Scottish National Championships last weekend (25-28 June 2009) at Glasgow’s Toll Cross pool.

Competing against the country’s best swimmers, plus several high profile teams from England, Warrender won the overall team title by a small margin leaving the teams of Edinburgh, Glasgow, REN 96, Garioch and Dundee to make up the Top 6.

Leading the way for Warrender was Great Britain Senior Team member Lewis Smith who qualified for the British Gas World Championship Team in the final of the 400 Individual Medley. Smith, now swimming at the Stirling ITC, booked his place on the plane to Rome after winning the Men’s 400 Indivdual Medley on the final night of the competition. It had been a tense week for Smith after he missed his place on the team by 0.33 in the 400 Freestyle and then a heart breaking 0.01 in the 200 Individual Medley. He made up for it though when he led the field from the start on his main event and never looked threatened by anyone else in the field.

Smith had this to say after his swim:
‘I have already had two chances to qualify for Rome so there was a bit of extra pressure on me; I am very relieved.

‘I was looking forward to this meet a lot and enjoyed the race. I thought I must be in the lead as the crowd suddenly got very loud. I was also feeling really good before the final so I knew I was ready to seize the opportunity.’

Smith now joins team mate Craig Hamilton to make two Warrender swimmers on the British Gas World Championship team. Hamilton had a quiet few days at the Scottish Nationals as he moves into his final preparations before heading off to the European Junior Championships on Wednesday. Hamilton was crowned Scottish Champion in the Men’s 1500 Freestyle where he finished 3rd to David Davies and Daniel Fogg. Hamilton did not swim his other main events, leaving them for later in the summer.

Both Smith and Hamilton are members of the Scottish Institute of Sport.

Once again, the depth of the Warrender Team was evident with strong performances in the Relays and many swimmers making ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals. Some of the talented younger swimmers started to make themselves known with very strong performances over a range of events. Scottish Youth Development Squad member, Dan Wallace performed tremendously over the four days, picking up no less than 5 Scottish Junior titles. Wallace showed his versatility by picking up titles in the 100 Butterfly, 200 IM, 400 IM, 400 Free and 800 Free, leaving the breaststroke events until the ASA Championships.

Craig McNally was also in good form, breaking two Scottish Age Group Records when he won the B Final of the Men’s 200 Backstroke in a classy time of 2:05.36 and then finished 7th in the Men’s 50 Backstroke in a swift 27.44.

Renowned for his breaststroke talent, Craig Benson put in some solid performances to set him up for the European Youth Olympics in July. He took the Scottish Junior Champion title in the 50, 100 and 200 Breaststroke events, breaking the Scottish Age Group record on the 100 (1:05.53) and setting new personal best times on the 50 (30.78) and 200 (2:23.25).

Benson and McNally are also members of the Scottish Youth Development Squad.

The Junior Boys joined together to smash the Scottish Junior Team Record (held by Warrender) in the Mens 4 x 100 Medley Relay with Benson and Wallace combining with Murray Lawrence and Jordan Dunn to come up with the time of 4:06.41.

Helen McRoberts and Jennifer Dobson showed they are gearing up for a good summer, with both girls setting PB’s across many of their events without being rested for the meet. Both girls featured in ‘B’ finals across the four days, and played a key role in all three relay events.

The Warrender squad return to heavy training this week in preparation for the forthcoming ASA Youth and Senior Championships taking place in Sheffield in July. Good luck to Lewis Smith, Craig Hamilton and Craig Benson in their respective events over the coming weeks.