07 Jan 2019

Newry Open Meet 2019

On Sunday 6th Jan, twenty young Enniskillen Lakelanders made the early morning trip to Newry Leisure Centre for the first meet of 2019. Swimmers were keen to show their talents and progression and as a licenced, Swim Ireland level 3 gala, this meet provided the younger Fermanagh swimmers with a great opportunity to target Irish National Division 2 times early in the season.
It was an opportunity the Lakelanders grasped with gusto returning with an impressive 21 medals in total, 7 swimmers achieved National Division 2 qualifying times and personal bests were achieved by all.

Eimear Magee swimming in the 15 year old category had a fantastic day finishing with three PBs, three gold medals and an Irish Division 2 time from her three events. In her first event, her favourite 100m butterfly she took a second and a half of her PB as she finished with an Irish Division 2 time to go with the gold medal. Eimear continued her good form in the 200m freestyle taking a massive five seconds of her PB as she took her second gold of the day. In fact Eimear just missed an Irish Division 2 time in this event by 8 hundredths of a second! In her final event the 100m freestyle Eimear added another PB to go with her third gold of the day thus finishing a great mornings work.

A bronze medal and two PBs were achieved by 11 year old Austin Cassidy. He worked incredibly hard in the 200m freestyle event, and was delighted to finish 3rd fastest in the 12 year old boy category and be rewarded with a Bronze medal – his first ever individual medal in swimming. He also achieved 2 further PB’s - 3.87 seconds in his 100m backstroke, and a fabulous 9.7 seconds in his 100m freestyle. Overall an excellent start to his 2019 swimming season.
It was also a successful meet for his older sister Niamh Cassidy who achieved 2 excellent PB’s, from her 4 events, in her debut at Newry. She took a well deserved 17 seconds of her PB for her 200m IM, and has gained valuable experience and increased technical awareness in this difficult event. But she was especially delighted with an enormous 33.73 seconds off her PB for the 200m freestyle event. She had a challenging 200m backstroke event in the 13 year old age group, so was pleased to finish in 7th place. Onwards and upwards for Niamh for the 2019 swim season.

Owen O’Donnell swimming in the age 14 category enjoyed his first experience of an open swimming completion and swam well in all his events swimming 100m backstroke, 200m freestyle and 100m freestyle. He now has times for these events and is looking forward to training with TAG to improve them.

His sister Ciara O’Donnell was also competing at this level for the first time, in age 12 category she swan well in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle,100 breaststroke and 100m back stroke. In a few of the heats she swam against her younger sister Niamh O’Donnell who competed in age 11 category. Both girls now have times which they hope to improve over the next few months.

After a short absence from competitive swimming Anna Mc Dade (12) had an encouraging return to the pool. She had four swims achieving podium positions in all four events. In her favoured breaststroke she was the fastest girl in age 13 group winning gold in 100m event. She won three silver medals in 200m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke, with impressive PBs. Anna was very pleased to secure Division 2 times in all four events which made for a good day.

Competing in the 12 year old age group having just turned 11 just days previously, Molly Rice had a strong swimming day at Newry with a 20 sec PB in her 100m Freestyle and +6 sec PB in her 100m Breaststroke. Competing for the first time in the 100m Backstroke, Molly had another good swim and has set her time for future development and improvement.

Also competing in the 12 year old category, Anna Cairns had a great day of swimming. Up first was the 100m Freestyle in which Anna secured an impressive 9 sec PB. 100m Backstroke was next and it was her first time competing at this distance so with a time of 1.42 she has a good directional time to improve upon. In one of her strongest strokes, Anna continued to make huge inroads with a circa 9 sec PB in her 100m Breaststroke so overall a good day out to start 2019.

Kiril Chursin (12) had a fantastic day at his first ever open swimming competition. He swam both the 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke and achieved super PB's in both. He took almost 5 seconds off his favoured breaststroke with an impressive top 10 finish. Kiril then swam 100m freestyle for the first time with a super time of 1:38.20. With a start like this, Kiril is right to feel very excited about the season ahead.

Tom Buchanan (10) took to the pool for the 200m IM. This was a first attempt at this distance and he chalked up an impressive time of 3.42. He later swam 200m freestyle, also for the first time, and was pleased with his time of 3.28. Tom also swam 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke, 100m free and 100m fly, achieving both PB's and top 5 finishes in a very competitive field.

Older brother Frank Buchanan (12) also swam 200m IM with a super time of 2.56 - a whopping 12 second PB. He then swam 200m backstroke, 200m freestyle taking silver medals in both. Frank went on to swim 100m backstroke , achieving a bronze medal and his first Division 2 time of the season. Franks final swim of the day was 100m freestyle placing 4th in his age category. He was pleased with such a successful start to the new year.

Molly Johnston stepped up for 100m freestyle where she won the heat with a 3 second PB. Next up was 200m IM were she finished with a time of 3.16 again a 3 second PB. Next for Molly was the 100m backstroke were she swam a good heat equalling her previous time, then last race of a gruelling day was 100m breast stroke were Molly had a good swim to end the day. Overall a good days swimming and a positive start to the new year for Molly.

Lauren Keaney also had a successful trip to Newry with a great start to the day in her 200m Freestyle – where she smashed her PB with a 20 second improvement. She also achieved new PBs in her 100m freestyle & 200 IM, 100 breaststroke - very impressively improving in all her strokes. Lauren also achieved a silver medal in her 100m freestyle competition for her 15 year old age category.
Jamie Lannon(11yrs) met with great success in Newry on Sunday. He started the day achieving an 8 second PB in the200m IM. Jamie went on to win bronze medals in both the 100m back crawl and 100m breaststroke. His PB scores continued to improve into the afternoon session achieving a further two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m freestyle and finally a gold medal win in the 100m butterfly. Jamie was not only proud of his medal success but also achieving qualification for Swim Ireland’s division 2 National championship next July.

Cora Cassidy started her day well with the 200m freestyle event where she chipped away at her time and managed to take an impressive 5 seconds off. Setting herself up for her next race
Cora got herself ready for the 100m freestyle coming in with a strong finish she finished 7th overall. Next up was the 200m IM, Cora had a fast impressive race with a massive 13 second PB and a top 10 finish, followed quickly with the 100m backstroke and another top 10 finish. After a short rest the last of the day was the 200m backstroke with another fantastic 9 second PB finishing 4th overall.

Emilie Reihill had a successful start to her season. Emilies most successful swim of the day was her favoured 100m Freestyle where she swam to her PB and secured a bronze medal along with her first Division 2 qualifying time of 2019. Emilie also gained great experience with 5th place finishes in the competitive 200m Freestyle and 5th place the 100m Backstroke with a new PB. She also swam well in the 100m Breaststroke. Emilie finished off her day swimming the 200m Backstroke for the first time and she was delighted to achieve another 5th place finish coming in just a hundredth of a second behind team mate Cora Cassidy!

Luke Aiken also had a successful day and managed 2 fantastic PB in 200IM and 200m freestyle where he knocked 6 seconds and 9 seconds of respectively from his previous times. The 200IM showed how well he has developed his skills and technique over the last few months. Luke also had 3 great swims in 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle where he maintained his times in these swims. He really was delighted to be back in competitive mode and is looking forward to improving on these in the next few months.

Ciosa McConnell swam in 4 events, in which she achieved 3 PBS, an Irish National Division 2 qualification time and a bronze medal. She swam PBs in both the 100m and 200m Freestyle along with knocking 5 seconds off her 200m IM time. In her favoured stroke, breaststroke, she swam to the required standard to qualify for the Irish National Finals in Limerick during July. This swim also earned her a bronze medal. A very successful start to the season for Ciosa.

Having narrowly missed out on 2 qualifying times at the last event of 2018, Abigail Boyd was keen to put in a strong performance and in her first event, the 100m freestyle she finished with a 1.6s PB, and followed with the 200IM where she achieved a massive 6.5s PB to. Abigail also competed well in the 100m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke.

Annabel Morrison was delighted to be swimming competitively again after injury. She swam a 2sec PB in her 100m freestyle coming in at 1.16. Her next event was 200IM, she swam an impressive 10sec PB. The 100m backstroke which was never a favourite of Annabel's, yet she still managed a 6sec PB. Annabel’s favourite stroke which is breaststroke was up next, she gained a valuable 1sec PB and secured a divisional 2 time.

The youngest to compete for the Lakelanders was Ellie Dunlop (10) who opened with a fantastic start in the 200 IM gaining a gold medal and an excellent PB of 32 seconds. Ellies next race was 100m backstroke where she finished in second place gaining a silver medal and PB of 12 seconds. Ellie's final race was 100m breaststroke where she secured her second Gold medal of the afternoon. An impressive start to the season for the young Lakelander.

All the Lakelanders were delighted with their performances at the first event of 2019 showing their continued progression and dedication at training paying off. Lakelander's Gala Secretary Noel Mc Manus paid tribute to the efforts of the club and new Head Coach, Aaron Rickhuss by stating...'Aaron has done a great job to get so many of our younger swimmer competing at this level, the swimmers themselves did him proud with their achievements this weekend, well done to all'

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Enniskillen Lakelanders Swimming Club, Newry Open Gla 2019, Lakelanders Swimming Results