07 Jun 2025

Young Lakelanders fought fierce battle with Lecale in AquaSprints Final

_{Photo credit: Cara O'Donohue}

A team of 39 young swimmers from Enniskillen Lakelanders ASC travelled to the Lagan Valley LeisurePlex in Lisburn last Friday to compete in the A final of this year’s Forest Feast AquaSprints league.

The event saw the young Lakelanders compete in a head to head battle against a strong squad from Lecale Swimming Club, while Swim Belfast and Olympia battled it out in the Division 4 B final, making the night a double event.

Racing kicked off with the medley team relays (backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly & freestyle) where the Lakelanders A and C age group teams both won their events. The A team of Imogen Neal, Joseph McKenna, Mollie Kate Brewster and Finn Coyle won comfortably while the C Team Michael Carron, James McSorley, Natalie Swidani and Tori Veitch fought hard to beat Lecale into second place by a fraction of a second. The Lakelanders B team of Jakub Mikiewicz Lumayad, Niamh Howell, April Huang and Oliver Elliot, and D team including Aquasprint captains Charles Armstrong, Crea Mullen, Sophie Hanna and Conor Collins both narrowly lost their heats to Lecale, leaving the clubs on a level playing field ahead of the individual events.

The Lakelanders secured five strong wins across the age groups in the individual backstroke events with Mollie Kate Brewster, Niamh Howell, Jakub Mikiewicz Lumayad, Natalie Swidani and Crea Mullen hitting the wall first in their events. Individual second place points were won by Charlie Brewster, April Huang, Michael Carron and Sophie Hanna.

The breaststroke events saw four wins claimed for the Lakelanders, by Mollie Kate Brewster, Joseph McKenna, Natalie Swidani and Sophie Hanna, while second place points were secured by Niamh Howell, Jakub Mikiewicz Lumayad, James McSorely and Crea Mullen. Finn Coyle, Oliver Elliot, Michael Carron and Charles Armstrong added third place points to the tally, with Imogen Neal, April Huang, Maia Rolston-McAuliffe and Conor Collins clocking in points for fourth place, leaving the two clubs sitting equally with 100 points each at the half way point.

Wins were secured for the Lakelanders in the individual butterfly events by Mollie Kate Brewster, Natalie Swidani and Crea Mullen, with Finn Coyle, Jakub Mikiewicz Lumayad, Michael Carron and Sophie Hanna securing important second place spots. Third place points were won for the team by April Huang and Charles Armstrong while fourth place points were added by Orlaith Howell, Joseph McKenna, Elin O' Donohoe, Eoghan Donnelly, Tori Veitch, James McSorely and Conor Collins, but the gap was starting to open with Lecale now sitting on 145 points to the Lakelanders’ 135.

The fiercely fought freestyle events delivered five further wins for the Lakelanders with Mollie Kate Brewster, Jakub Mikiewicz Lumayad, Natalie Swidani, Michael Carron, and Crea Mullen hitting the wall first in their races. Second place spots were secured by Finn Coyle, Niamh Howell, Tori Veitch, James McSorley and Sophie Hanna while Joseph McKenna and Kaelan Rice added third place points to the scoreboard sheet. Imogen Neal, Elin O' Donohoe, Oliver Elliot and Conor Collins added fourth place points to the tally, with the gap between the two clubs narrowing to 4 points with the Lakelanders on 178 and Lecale 182.

The event wrapped up with the fast and furious freestyle relays where Lecale dominated despite a fierce battle in the C group race where the Lakelanders team of Michael Carron, James McSorely, Natalie Swidani and Tori Veitch narrowly lost by a fraction of a second,

When the final scores were announced, Lecale proved to be the stronger team and were named winners of the League with a score of 210 points to 190 Lakelanders. Mollie Kate Brewster and Natalie Swidani were the Lakelanders’ most valuable swimmers on the night, having both won first place in all four of their individual races and in their medley team relay events.

The Lakelanders team captains Crea Mullen and Charles Armstrong congratulated Lecale on their success and thanked Swim Ulster and Lisburn Leisureplex for hosting the event.

Gala Secretary, Aideen Speer, thanked coach Chelsey Weir along with the club’s parent volunteers and volunteer coaches who helped on the night, without whom the team could not have taken part in the event. Aideen also acknowledged the great work of Head Coach Fionna Orr with the young swimmers. A special word of thanks also goes to Janette Mongan of the Lakelanders who acted as event announcer and kept proceedings moving throughout the night.

_{Photo credit: Cara O'Donohue}

 

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