29 Jan 2019

LAKELANDERS VS BALLYMONEY REPORT

On Saturday the Enniskillen Lakelanders travelled ready to take to the pool under the leadership of head coach Aaron Rickhuss at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre to compete in the penultimate Provincial Towns League Gala of the season against Ballymoney with some 14 of them competing in Larne earlier in the day.

To date the Lakelanders had been unbeaten in this league but they knew this gala would be difficult from the outset as with many of their usual teammates missing due to other commitments leaving the Lakelanders unable to contend in two of the boy’s relays. Undeterred by this the Lakelanders gave it their all with heats allowed to gave each Lakelander lots of swims to get times and valuable experience. With the usual format of Medley & Freestyle relays as well as five individual events there are four different age groups competing ranging from swimmers born in 2010 to 2003 and older.

Ballymoney took an early lead in the relays with Enniskillen unable to field two boys’ teams. At the end of the first 8 Medley Relay heats, a gap had appeared but there was good wins for the girls Group A (Holy James, Niamh O’Donnell, Ellie Dunlop , Hannah Lynch ) , ( Group B (Isobel Lannon, Annabel Morrison, Emilie Reihill, Anna McDade) and C girls (Lauren Keaney, Ciosa McConnell, Ellie McCartney, Molly Johnston ). At the end of the relays the Lakelanders were down by 32 points.

Next up was the Backstroke with lots of gold and silver positions spots for the Lakelanders these included Ellie Dunlop and Holy James, Isobel Lannon and Ellie McCartney for the girls and Jamie Lannon, Tom Buchanan, Frank Buchanan and Kealan McShea for the boys. There were lots of great swims in the backstroke, most notably by Hannah Lynch, Abigail Boyd, Anna McDade, Caitlin Martin, Adam Forster, Nial Bruce, James Mongan, Luke Aiken, Owen O’Donnell and Cora Cassidy and Rachael Evans. At the end of the backstroke Lakelanders did well in the event and started to pull back points.

Breaststroke next and Lakelanders, with the girls, truly showing their dominance collecting seven out of eight top two positions and again pulled back 6 points more with gold and silver positions were Ellie Dunlop, Niamh O’Donnell, Annabelle Morrison, Isobel Lannon, Ellie McCartney, Ciosa McConnell and Rachael Evans for the boys; Golds for Jamie Lannon, and Keelan McShea. Again, there were great swims for Sarah Speer, Cora McConnell, Shea McCarney, Hayden James and Daria Fidgeon.

Next up was the butterfly a closer fought affair where Ballymoney took the narrowest of victories in the Butterfly heats collecting 77 points vs Enniskillen’s 75 with Ellie Dunlop, Isobel Lannon. Ellie McCartney and Jamie Lannon taking 1st places in their races, and with Niamh O’Donnell, Rachael Evans, Tom Buchanan and Frank Buchanan securing silver medal positions. With great swims by Niamh Cassidy, Lauren Keaney, Molly Johnston, Luke Aiken and Ben Lynch.

Into the Freestyle heats and Enniskillen dominated pulling back 12 points with six wins out eight on the night for Ellie Dunlop, Isobel Lannon, Ellie McCartney, Rachael Evans, Jamie Lannon and Keelan McShea taking gold. Niamh O’Donnell, Anna McDaid, Tom Buchanan and Luke Aiken supported by picking up silver medals. Lots of excellent swims again by Hayden James, Nial Bruce, Shea McCarney, Adam Forster, Austin Cassidy, Caitlin Martin, Emilie Reihill, Annabel Morrison , Cora Cassidy, Holy James, Sarah Speer were recorded.

 

With two events to go, the IM and the Freestyle Relays, the Lakelanders had narrowed the gap to 10 points and needing a big finish to claw back the deficit. And again they raced out of their skins and fantastic swims were recorded Ellie Dunlop, Isobel Lannon and Ellie McCartney all securing top spot and second position for Niamh O’Donnell. Anna McDaid, Ciosa McConnell, Daria Fidgeon and Rachael Evans also swam well and secured points for the team. For the boys Jamie Lannon and Keelan secured gold whilst Tom and Frank Buchanan secured silver. Nial Bruce, Luke Aiken and Lewis McCartney secured points for the Lakelanders. After the IM’s Lakelanders had pulled it back to six points.

 

The relays saw the Lakelanders win 4 out of the 8 but unfortunately no points were awarded as there was not a group C reply for the boys. The biggest cheer of the night went to Austin Cassidy who swam up into the group D relay with the big boys.

 

The MVS (Most Valuable Swimmers) award for the girls went to the two both Ellie’s - Dunlop and McCartney who both collected the maximum of 63 points from their 7 first place finishes in the 7 events. While in the boys the award goes to for his haul of 59 points from 7 swims goes to Jamie Lannon.

Special mention needs to go to Austin Cassidy, Luke Lannon and Abigail Boyd, who swam up two age groups on the night and forgot about themselves and swam for the team. Also, to acknowledge the younger members of the club Beth Buchanan, Josh Cassidy and Ryan Mongan and Luke Lannon who made the trip as well and did themselves proud.

The committee would like to thank sincerely the parents and volunteers who volunteered to do jobs on the night, without whom these events just wouldn’t happen. It was a long day for many of the swimmers leaving home at 6am and not back till 11pm that night, showing true commitment to their sport and fellow team mates. We also acknowledge the time, effort and money it takes to give that commitment, but I am sure you all agree, the benefits in physical and emotional health as well as self-esteem, discipline and team ethics it brings to the young swimmers far outweighs any costs. And a big thank you to Aaron the coach who praised and encouraged the children throughout the evening he stated that the depth of talent was extremely evident as well as such good sportsmanship from our swimmers. The result was beyond unfortunate however the swimmers should all be very proud.

 

---

All news