New Ross swimmers excel at Limerick meet
MEMBERS of New Ross Swimming Club brought honour to the club at the recent Irish Age Groups Division 2 Swimming Championships at UL Arena, Limerick.
There were some impressive swims in the Girls 800m Freestyle and Boys 1,500m Freestyle. The competition ran in 25m format, with over 700 contenders competing in their respective age groups.
New Ross Swimming Club, noted for its distance excellence, put forward three swimmers for these opening events with Danielle Colfer (14) placing 6th in the 800 Free, Cillian Foley (15) was just pipped at the touch giving him an impressive 4th placing in the 1500 Free while Kiara Ryan (11) took home gold, on her first Division 2 outing, swimming the 800 Free in an impressive time of 11:04:72.
On day 2, Jack Coode (18) took up the mantle, making three finals during the day. He stormed home to gold in the 400m Individual Medley. Jack also won his prelims in the 200m free, placing 4th in the finals. Cillian Foley made the 200 Free final securing a personal best again and Jaden Chan, the club’s youngest competitor at just 10 years of age, made the reserve in 100 breast. Again a great result for this youngster at his first national competition. Danielle and Kiara had significant personal bests in all of their events of day two.
Day 3 was a great day for our two youngest swimmers, Jaden Chan made his 1st final in the 100 Butterfly finishing in 7th place. While Kiara Ryan just missed a medal in the final of the 100 Free Style. Literally pipped on the final touch. So great results for these guys, and lots more to come from both no doubt as they progress in their swimming careers.
On the final day, the New Ross five continued to make big improvements in their personal times with top 10 finishes for several events.
But perhaps the most exciting swim of the day was performed by Danielle Colfer, who went into the 200 breast stroke final in 7th position. Danielle, having endured a difficult season with extended illness, showed true determination and grit. Benefiting from focused training on her turning skills, she managed to leave the wall faster than all of the other athletes and in so doing that swam her way to first. A well-deserved win for the Rathgarogue teen.
Ending the meet with three gold and smashing personal best times in every single one of their swims, not to mention each and every team member making at least one final over the three days, has been a great result for the team and an excellent reflection on the club.
The New Ross quintet were coached by Fran Ronan and Sarah Ryan, and they can now relax after a long swim season until the fun begins again in September. But for head coach Fran Ronan, the work continues as she prepares her next group of swimmers for the final national competition of the season, IAG Division 1, towards the end of the month.