12 Jun 2022

Thanks to Mary Ann Salcedo and Karina Mikievicz Lumayad for the photos

Enniskillen Lakelanders travelled to Omagh Leisure Complex  on the 10th June to take part in the Forest Feast Aquasprint A final.

Forty five very excited children arrived in Omagh at 6pm , all hoping to swim their way to Division 3 for the very first time.

Enniskillen Aquasprint team had earned their place in the A Final having achieved three wins out of three in the league.

Arriving on poolside the atmosphere was electric, the young swimmers had fun kitting out in their Forest Feast T-shirts, grass skirts, pom poms and face paints! Each of the teams; Enniskillen Lakelanders, Sliabh Beagh SC, Monaghan and Newry & Mourne SC joined in the exciting atmosphere making lots of noise as they danced to Katy Perry’s ‘You’re a Superstar’ in the opening parade. 

Lakelanders’ team captains Hannah Lynch and Luke Lannon gave a rousing team talk before the start of the event and once the gala got going and the nerves all settled, the Lakelanders got off to a great start.

 

First up was the Medley Relays (Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly & Freestyle). Enniskillen settled in well and were delighted to take three wins out of four. There were wins for Group B of Martha McCreesh, Emma Speer, Darragh Collins & Mirko Mann. Group C of Ava Neal, Erin Salcedo , Luke Lannon and Enda Burke also secured first spot. With two out of three wins Enniskillen had high hopes for group D and with some swimmers such as Ryan Mongan having to bravely swim up in the older groups to make up the team in the pool, the coaches nervously looked on but group D lead all the way and as the race finished they had a four second advantage. In the medley relays there was great swims for Anton Neal, Muireann Cassidy, Katie McGowan, Holly McCabe, Holly Barkley, Jessica Miller, Sarah Speer, Olivia McCaffrey, Josh Cassidy, Mylene Leonard, Caelan Moore, and Aoife and Eimear Carey. All swimmers showed a wonderful improvement from the start of the league making their coaches very proud.

The first individual stroke was Backstroke and Lakelanders knew this had been their weakest stroke throughout the league and knew Sliabh Beagh would show their strength in this round. Swimmers and coaches had  been working hard on starts and finishes but were still nervous and hoped to hold their own. With only two individual wins from Martha McCreesh and Hannah Lynch and seconds for Luke Lannon and Ellie Dunlop, Sliabh Beagh took the lead by four points with Lakelanders in second spot as they headed into the Breaststroke round.

With many of the Lakelanders unbeaten in the Breaststroke event throughout the league, hopes were high as they took to the water for their favourite stroke. First positions went to Emma Speer, Ava Neal and Ellie Dunlop. Seconds went to Keira Salcedo, Michael Carron, Mirko Mann, Martha McCreesh, Erin Salcedo , Luke Lannon and Hannah Lynch. Thirds spots also went to Sophie Hanna and Emmett Coyle. There were also great swims for Darragh Collins, Michael McGowan and Ryan Mongan. With the Lakelanders having secured sixty-nine of the eighty-eight points available they regained their lead and stretched it to eighteen points at the half way mark.

In the Butterfly round Sliabh Beagh were again dominant with Lakelanders Martha McCreesh, Luke Lannon and Ellie Dunlop securing top spot and Emma Speer, Ava Neal and Michael McGowan taking second spot. There were also great swims for Fionn Brewster and  Daire Burke. Despite the Lakelanders’ best efforts, Sliabh Beagh had again made gains on the score board but Lakelanders held the lead by nine points.

The last individual event was the Front Crawl where the Lakelanders again swam excellently with fantastic 1st places for Emma Speer, and Ellie Dunlop. There were second spots for  Martha McCreesh , Ava Neal, Luke Lannon , Hannah Lynch and Michael McGowan. There were great swims for Michael Carron, Daire Burke, Clara Leonard, Rua Moore, Beth Buchanan and Russell Mikievicz Lumayad. Lakelanders had won the Freestyle round and now lead by ten points but needed to win at least two of the relays to secure victory.

First up in the relay was group A and with three of the four swimmers swimming up by a year this was a big ask and group A narrowly missed out on hitting the wall in the top three. Next up Group B where girls Emma Speer and Martha McCreesh had secured tops spots all night hopes were high but unfortunately they were beaten by 0.9 secs after an exciting final leg by Mirko Mann. Unknown to the Lakelanders at this stage there was only two points separating the Lakelanders and Sliabh Beagh .

Groups C and D had swam out of their skins all evening and thankfully they didn’t let the team down with both swimming to victory with the roar of their team behind them. In this relay event there were also great swims for Ava Nugent, Ella Neal, Rebecca Curran, Maeve McAuliffe Anna Mae Hill, Tori Reid, Emily Stewart and Lorcan Doherty.

The MVS (Most Valuable Swimmer) title for the evening went to Ellie Dunlop winning three individual events and two relays.  A special mention again goes to all the boys and girls who swam up on the night against those a year older than them,  all securing points and helping ensure victory for the squad. They were; Clara Leonard, Michael Carron, Fionn Brewster, Ryan Mongan and Russell Mikievicz Lumayad .

Lynda Stoops from Swim Ulster stood up to announce the final scores whilst everyone waited with bated breath. She announced  Newry and  Mourne 248, Sliabh Beagh 289 which led to jubilant cheers throughout the venue as she proceeded to announce Enniskillen Lakelanders 303.

Head Coaches Ben Wiffen and Junior Head coach Clare Morris  were extremely proud of all the swimmers and of their individual achievements as were the Aquasprint organisers with wonderful smiles, good behaviour and great swimming along with making friends and having fun. It has been a long time since the Lakelanders made finals and it was such a brilliant night that will live in their memories for years.

Chairperson Aideen Speer once again praised all the parents for their time and commitment they give to their children and the help and support they give to make Enniskillen Lakelanders such a great club. She also praised all the coaching team made up of mostly volunteers for their generosity and time and commitment to all the swimmers. Next week is their end of Year Fun Day and hopefully there will be as much fun there as there was in Omagh on what was a fabulous finals night!

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