Swimmers’ outstanding medal haul at national competitions
NEW ROSS swimmers have excelled at two national summer swimming competitions, with two athletes winning eleven medals between them.
Eleven swimmers competed at the Irish Division 2 National Championships at UL Sports Campus with numerous swimmers competing in the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin over five days from July 25 to July 29.
Senior swimmers Jack Coode, Cillian Foley and Danielle Colfer led the march in Limerick.
The three are experienced swimmers at national level and performed well with significant time improvements and finals reached for all three in their individual disciplines.
In the junior category, Jaden Chan, attending his second division, took home bronze in the 100m breaststroke. He was joined by several first timers including Laura Connell, Rosin Kenny, Phelim O’Connor, Cael Colfer, Eva Bayley, Tiernan Foley and Donnacha McCarthy.
The 11 New Ross swimmers took on 48 swims, achieving personal bests in 44 and top ten placings in 11 finals.
The Division 1 Irish Summer National team took on the best in Irish swimming and many overseas visiting teams in the National Aquatic Centre.
Eight New Ross Swimmers qualified for this end of season national event. First timers Kiara Ryan and Jessica Tootill took to the blocks alongside seasoned teammates Evan Bailey, Ruth Kelly, Sadhbh Bailey, Min Allen, Denis Kilbride and Cian Foley. These eight swimmers had achieved 86 qualification times for national swims.
They broke their own personal best records in 52 of these.
The swimmers had 37 top 10 finishes culminating in 12 medals including one gold, seven silver and four bronze medals, with some very close medal finishes in other instances.
Brother and sister duo Sadhbh and Evan Bailey won 11 of these medals between them, with Denis adding his name to the haul on the final day of racing. The team also put forward a strong girls relay team 12-14 age bracket which performed well.
Following the success of the club’s training programme over the past 12 months, Sadhbh achieved ‘consideration times’ for the National Pathway Performance Squad.
New Ross Swimming Club spokesperson Amy Allen said: ‘We had great success at Division 1, with two very promising swimmers coming to the fore (the Baileys). One has even achieved consideration times for the National Pathway squad! This is a tremendous achievement by the 14-year-old and a testament to her dedication and motivation. Five junior swimmers Evan Bailey, Kiara Ryan, Jaden Chan, Eva Bayley and Donnacha McCarthy have also been selected onto the Leinster Region Skills squad. All swimmers showed fantastic form and promise.’