39 Medals Including 15 Golds for Lakelanders at SU Spring Qualifier
04 Feb 2019
A dozen swimmers represented the Enniskillen Lakelanders at the Swim Ulster Spring Qualifying Gala over 3 days at the Aurora 50m pool in Bangor, set up in a Long Course format, and returned with a total of 39 medals including 15 top spots.
On the Friday Night a number of members swam the 800m Freestyle for the first time. Jamie Lannon, competing in the 11-year-old age group, completed the event in a time of 12:10.73, a new Club record, to win the Gold Medal. Frank Buchanan received the Silver Medal for his time of 11:24.58. Isobel Lannon just missed out on the medals to finish 4th in her age group.
Ben Lynch, a veteran long-distance swimmer, also swam to Gold in his section with a Personal Best of 9:22.91.
Session 2 took place on Saturday morning and more Lakelanders made the journey to Bangor on a very cold morning. First up was the 200m Individual Medley where Ellie McCartney was the fastest female in the pool with a time of 2:27.27. Izzy Lannon also reached the top of the podium with a new PB of 2:49.84. Anna McDade finished 9th with a time of 3:01.06. Jamie Lannon then received Bronze Medals in the 100m Butterfly and the 100m Breaststroke with a new PB of 1:42.84. Kealan McShea and Lewis McCartney also swam to new best ever times in the 100m Breaststroke with times of 1:15.23 and 1:15.45 to finish 7th and 8th respectively. There was great representation in the 100m Freestyle for the girls with Ellie McCartney, Isobel Lannon, Eimear Magee and Anna McDade all swimming new Long Course PBs – Ellie coming away with a Silver Medal while Izzy and Anna had top 10 finishes.
The Saturday afternoon session began with Izzy smashing her 400m Freestyle PB to finish 6th in a time of 5:20.87. Ben topped his age group in the 200m Freestyle and Kealan won Bronze in a Club Record time of 2:05.97. Lewis finished close behind in 4th place. Jamie also finished in fourth with a new PB. Ellie McCartney was once again the fastest female in the pool in her favoured 200m Breaststroke to win Gold in a time of 2:42.34. Ellie Dunlop also won her section in a new best time of 3:42.34. Izzy received a Silver Medal for her swim while Anna just missed out finishing fourth. Jamie and Frank swam well in the 100m Backcrawl 4th and 5th respectively. Eimear Magee tackled the 200m Butterfly for the first time in long course format and finished fourth in a time of 2:54.06 – a Division Two qualifying time. Jamie continued his Gold rush in the 50m Freestyle while Ben and Kealan just missed out in the medals finishing fourth. Lewis swam well to finish sixth while Frank swam to a great PB of 32.96 also a Division Two qualifying time. The Lakelander Girls dominated their age groups in the 50m Breaststroke with both Ellies finishing the day with another Gold medal each. Anna swam to a Silver while Izzy received the Bronze Medal.
The final day kicked off with session 4 and the 400m Individual Medley were Ellie McCartney took another Gold. This was followed by the boys 200m IM and Silver Medals for Jamie Lannon (PB & Div 2 time) and Kealan McShea as well as a Bronze Medal for Oisin McManus. Lewis McCartney and Frank Buchanan finished 5th and 9th respectively with a new PBs. In the 100m Butterfly Isobel Lannon had another top ten result with a PB and followed this up with a 6th place in the 100m Breaststroke. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals went Ellie McCartney, Ellie Dunlop (PB) and Anna McDade with Emilie Reihill also getting a new PB. Gold and Silver Medals were awarded to Ben Lynch (PB & Div 1 time) and Frank Buchanan (PB & Div 2 time). In the competitive 100m Freestyle Jamie Lannon’s fantastic swim earned him a Silver Medal and a Div 2 time. There were top 10 finished for Kealan, Ben, Oisin and Lewis. Kealan backed this up with a Gold Medal in the 50m Backcrawl while Ellie Dunlop received a Bronze in the 50m Butterfly.
In the final session there was 1-2 in the 400m Freestyle for Ben Lynch and Oisin McManus. Jamie Lannon also received a Silver Medal while Frank Buchanan finished fourth with a massive PB – both with a Div 2 time. Izzy, Anna and Emilie had great races in the 200m Freestyle and Emilie finished with a new PB and a Div 2 time. Lewis swam to his first medal of the meet with a Bronze in the 200m Breaststroke and Jamie received a Silver in his first ever 200m Butterfly. Ellie McCartney reached the top spot for the sixth time over the weekend in a new event for her - the 100m Backcrawl – as well as a Div 1 time. Izzy, Anna and Emilie (PB) all competed well in the same event. Ellie also medalled in the 50m Freestyle with a Silver in a time of 29.53. Emilie had a fantastic new PB to win a Bronze while Anna also PB’d to finish eighth. In the final event of the day Lewis received his second Bronze of the Meet with a new PB in the 50m Breaststroke.
Head coach, Aaron Rickhuss, was extremely pleased with the performances of all the swimmers at the meet - “The continuous development of the club swimmers at this level is important in terms of experience. At the moment it’s more about the learning than the results although on this occasion there has been a great balance of both”.
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