THE county’s elite young swimmers went to great lengths to smash last year’s medal haul at round one of the East District Age Group Championships at Glenrothes at the weekend.

East Lothian Swim Team (ELST) members – comprising the top talent from Haddington, Musselburgh and Tranent swim clubs – claimed a stunning 32 medals over the opening round’s longer distances compared to 19 at the 2017 meet.

Twelve golds, 11 silvers and nine bronze medals headed back across the Queensferry Crossing once the swimming pool at the Michael Woods Sport Centre had settled.

And there were also another four Scottish age-group records broken by East Lothian’s Young Sports Person of the Year, ELST and Tranent Amateur Swimming Club’s Stefan Krawiec, 12. Like Krawiec, Louisa Stoddart took home four gold medals.

Forty-one swimmers from the county had achieved qualifying times which allowed them to compete in the weekend’s events: the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle, as well as the 400m individual medley.

Personal best times were recorded in more than 80 per cent of their swims and 10 East Lothian records were also broken.

ELST head coach Bruce Halloran said: “This has been an extremely successful weekend of racing for our swimming community, claiming 12 district titles and 32 medal in total – a huge achievement and we are all very proud of the swimmers.

“Round 1 of the district championships last year saw the programme claim 19 medals, compared to the 32 achieved this weekend. The number of medallists and the range of age of medallists has also greatly increased, which is very promising for the future of the programme.

The swimmers will now get back to the training pool in preparations for the Scottish Short Course Championships and the next round of our district championships.”

Krawiec’s training partners Luke Hornsey and Calum Peebles also had great weekends with both leaving with four medals each (two silvers and two bronzes).

Owen Williamson claimed his first East District title, winning the 14 years’ 400m freestyle in a huge PB time. Meanwhile, Luke Porteous collected two silvers and two bronzes in the 15 years’ age group while his squad-mate Aidan Ballantyne had four top-10 finishes.

Musselburgh’s Zach Slater picked up a silver medal in the 400m freestyle and a 400m IM bronze medal in the 11-12 years’ age group.

The East Lothian girls also shone, with Louisa Stoddart leading the way in the 14 years’ category while Iona Wilson took gold in the 15 years’ 400 IM and picked up a bronze in the 800m freestyle. Wilson’s training partner Eilish Segall won silver in the 15 years’ 1,500m freestyle.

Christen Russell picked up two gold medals (800m and 1,500m freestyle) and Bridget Lemasurier took home silver in the 400 IM (both girls were competing in the 17 years and over category).

Grace Courtney secured silver in the 14 years’ 400 IM and bronze in the 400 freestyle while fellow Musselburgh swimmer Hannah Wardell claimed her first East District medal, picking up a silver in the 400 IM.