Lakelanders' Shine Bright Among the Stars at Dave McCullagh International Meet
24 Feb 2020
Dave McCullagh International meet 2020
A squad of 9 swimmers from the Enniskillen Lakelanders club took part in the prestigious Swim Ireland Dave Mc Cullagh International meet in Bangor Aurora last weekend. This meet was a great opportunity for everyone to test their racing skills against the best in Ireland and a large contingent of top international stars from GB also tuning-up for the Olympics later this year..
The layout of McCullagh International mirrored Tokyo 2020 timings with evening heats and morning finals as some of the best in the world count down to their bid for Olympic qualification. Former World Swimmer of the Year Adam Peaty was the main attraction for many spectators. World and Olympic champion Peaty has been the king of breaststroke for the past five years and is favourite to land a clean sweep at this year's Games in Tokyo. Racing against this quality of opposition, with the benefit of familiar surroundings and with the reverse format proved a great way the local Fermanagh swimmers to test themselves.
It was an achievement for Anna Mc Dade (13) to qualify for two events at this prestigious gala . As the youngest female Lakelander swimmer at the event, it was a privilege to share the pool with Olympians. Undaunted and inspired Anna swam to her PB in 100m Breaststroke and a PB in 50m Breaststroke saw her swim to her target of sub 37 sec, holding her position as one of the top breaststroke competitors in her age group.
Also delighted to qualify for this event was Seanan Donnelly, the youngest male Lakelander swimmer. Seanan was competing in the Junior Men 12-14 age group category in the 200m Breaststroke where he produced a consistent swim close to his PB.
Ellie McCartney was using the gala to build for the Irish Open in 5 weeks. The 14-year-old qualified for 5 Finals from her 7 seven events and finished as the 3rd fastest Irish Female in 50m, and 200m Breaststroke as well as the 400m IM finals. Ellie also won the B Final in the 100m Breaststroke as well as 2nd in the 200m IM B final. In the 400m IM she was up against Olympic swimmers Aimee Willmot (27) and Hannah Miley (31) and produced a 4 second PB in the event. In the 200m Breaststroke Ellie swam against Molly Renshaw and the European Medallist, Mona McSharry, to finish 6th overall. The online commentator stated her swim in the 200m Freestyle was very mature for a swimmer her age and helped improve her seeding. Ellie also improved her seeding in the 100m Freestyle.
Lewis McCartney produced some superb swims over the days culminating with a fantastic 200m Backstroke to achieve a valuable Irish Open time and a place in the B final where he finished as the 2nd fastest 18-year-old Irish swimmer at the meet. In the 50m Freestyle Lewis produced another PB to win his heat as well as 50m Breaststroke. He also competed in the 100m and 200m Breaststroke. He’s looking forward to the Irish Open in early April.
Anna Mc Glinchey qualified for the 50m and 100m Butterfly, both events were executed very well and she achieved two PB's and earned a Irish Open time for her 50m Butterfly and a Division 1 time for her 100m Butterfly.
Kealan Mc Shea (17) enjoyed the meet in which he swam 6 events, gaining 2 new PBs and improving his initial seeding in all events.
Dara Ronan swam in four events and began his weekend with a time of 2.22.07 in the 200m Butterfly. Next up was the 400m Individual Medley and a time of 5.09.16 (PB -3.18). In the 50m Butterfly Dara again had a PB of -0.24 in 27.45. In Dara's final event, the 100m Butterfly, he again had a good PB of -0.44 in a time of 1.01.48. All four events qualify Dara for the Irish Open Championships in April.
Cora Rooney produced some impressive swims having qualified for 5 events at this meet. Cora performed well in her first swim the 50m Backstroke, improving her seeding with a PB to gain a place in the B Final where she finished as the 3rd fastest 15 year old. Cora also secured Final places in the 100m and 200m Backstroke where she was pleased to achieve PBs and finish as 4th fastest 15 year old in both events. Cora was also on form in the 100m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly events where she again improved her seeding and earned herself two further PBs.
Ben Lynch (16) competed in 3 events the 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle. Ben was delighted to make the fastest heat of the 1500m Freestyle to finish in 12th place, followed by a strong swim in the 400m Freestyle which saw him improve his ranking to 27th.
Lakleanders Head Coach Aaron Rickhuss was on hand throughout the event to manage the local squad and hailed the local athletes saying, ‘everyone one of our swimmers should feel proud to have not only qualified to participate in an event of this magnitude but I also want to congratulate them on the effort and discipline to brought to their performances this weekend. Our thoughts and hopes now turn to the Irish open finals in a few weeks and the renewed efforts in training’.
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