Swim Ulster Development Meet 3: Newry

28 Jan 2020

On Sunday 26th of January, 11 swimmers from Enniskillen Lakelanders made their way to Newry for the 3rd Swim Ulster Development Meet of the season. The event held in the Newry Leisure Centre, is aimed primarily at younger swimmers just starting out on their competitive journey in the world of swim competitions, where swimmers aim to gain qualification times to progress to the next level of regional events. The young Lakelanders did not disappoint, returning with good memories, medals and most importantly a slew of new personal best swims (PBs).

The youngest Lakelander attending Hannah Lynch (10) swam 200m IM and 100m freestyle, finishing both heats in first place, and achieved a massive 6 sec pb in her 200m IM.

Kate McDade (11) was back in the pool after captaining the Aqausprint team to victory the night before. A 6 second short course PB in the 200m IM, and swimming at her pb in the 100m freestyle, all made for a pleasing weekends swimming.

Darren Woods (12) competed in 3 events, earning PBs in all 3. He took 1.5 seconds off his first race, the 100m backstroke. Second up was 100 breaststroke where he knocked off 4.5 seconds. His final race was the 50m butterfly, his favourite, where he took 2 seconds off his PB, and he came 2nd in his event overall.

Austin Cassidy (12) competed in the boys 13-year-old 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, and the 100m breaststroke events. He was delighted with a 10th place finish in the 200m freestyle, and came close to his PB in all three events.

Hayden James (12) had a very successful meet, earning 2 gold medals and 2 PBs over the event. In his favoured event, the 100m freestyle, he not only achieved a 4.79 second PB, but he was the also the fastest boy in the 13-year age group. In addition, he achieved a 4.69 second PB in the 200m freestyle event, making him the fastest boy in the 13-year age group. He then swam well in the 100m backstroke, finishing around his previous PB time.

Niamh O’Donnell (12) competed in two events, earning a PB in both. In her 200m freestyle she took a huge 19 seconds off her PB, and in her 100m breaststroke she took nearly 4 seconds off her PB.

Saoirse McGovern (12) competed in the girl 13-year-old 100m freestyle, and the 100m breaststroke events. She was delighted to win her heat in the 100m freestyle, taking over 10 second off her PB, and also finishing 10th overall. She also swam within 0.01ms against her PB in breaststroke, ending the event on a high note.

Oliver Mooney (12) competed in 2 events, earning a PB in one of them. He took 1 second off his PB in the 100m breaststroke finishing 6th overall, and swam just under his PB in the 50m butterfly finishing 8th overall.

Dara Toner (13) had a super day swimming in Newry, setting new PBs in both of his events. He dropped a massive 14 seconds off his 100 freestyle to finish with a time of 1:34:80, and being placed 18th overall. He had another massive improvement of 9 seconds for his 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:56:12, and being placed 14th overall.

Ciara O’Donnell (13) competed in two events, earning a PB in both. In her 100m backstroke she took a nearly 8 seconds off her PB, and in her 100m breaststroke she took nearly 6 seconds off her PB.

Kiril Chursin (14) competed in 3 events, earning 3 new PBs in all of them. In the 200m freestyle he finished with a PB of 2.52.73 taking nearly 10 seconds off his previous time, in the 100m backstroke he finished with a PB of 1.31.50 taking 3.97 seconds off his previous, and in the 100m breaststroke he finished with a PB of 1.37.96 taking 3.73 seconds off his previous.

Lakelanders Head Coach, Aaron Rickhuss who was on hand throughout the day to support the swimmers, praised all those taking part saying, 'I'm very pleased with the effort every swimmer has put in today and they all deserve the results they've achieved. Every sports club needs to be nurturing the next generation and with swimmers like this we can see the club will always have a bright future'.

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