Medals for local swimmers at Shortcourse championships
THE Swim Ireland Connacht 2018 Short Course Championships took place on 3rd and 4th November in Leisureland, Galway, and it proved to be another excellent meet for the travelling County Sligo Swimming Club swimmers.
With 22 swimmers representing Sligo S.C., the swimmers did not disappoint, achieving 41 podium places and multiple personal best times.
The gala was run as an Open Meet, however the three fastest swimmers aged 13 or under in both boys and girls events were also presented with medals from the heat swims.
Ronan Kilcoyne (pictured) had an unbelievable weekend winning 11 golds in the 13 and under category, as well as also winning 2 golds and 1 bronze in the open category. Ronan’s highlight was in the 400m IM where he was the fastest swimmer overall in an excellent time of 4:52:52, and pb of almost 8 seconds. Ronan’s other open gold came in the 1500m freestyle, when he finished in 17:20:30, a pb of 11 seconds from his attempt at the same distance just a month ago.
Peter Mooney claimed three golds, in 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100mm breaststroke, as well as one silver, in the 100m freestyle.
Danielle Farrell won two golds, in the 1500m freestyle and 400m freestyle and two bronzes, in 800m freestyle and 200m. Danielle’s 400m freestyle time of 4:35:07 was a pb of 6.08 seconds, and her 1500m freestyle was a 15 seconds pb.
Thirteen-year-old Killian Langton performed well, winning three medals in the 13 and under category. Killian’s medals came in the 200m breaststroke where he won gold, and in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events where he claimed bronze medals. His 200m breaststroke time of 2:48:27 was a 14.80 second pb. Anthony Maher (17) won two silvers, in 100m breaststroke and 100m IM and two bronzes, in the 200m IM and 50m breaststroke. Carrie McDaid (16) claimed a silver in the 100m IM, in a time of 1:08.56 and two bronzes, in 400m freestyle and 50m breaststroke.
Ciara Connaughton – Jones (13) won three medals in the 13 and under category. Ciara won a gold in the 800m freestyle event and two silvers, in the 100m IM and 50 backstroke events. She also swam a really good 400m freestyle, finishing in a time of 5:15.81 which was a pb of 12.65 seconds. Wiktoria Weinert (15) won a bronze in 200m butterfly. The two youngest Sligo medal winners were 12 year olds Anna O’Connor and Jane Bradley who both won a bronze medal each. Anna won hers in the 50m butterfly (34.97 secs.) while Jane’s bronze came in the 800m freestyle.
Sligo also returned home with four medals from relay events. The Sligo SC team won gold in the male 200m freestyle relay (Peter Mooney, Anthony Maher, Paddy McPartlan and Orin Michell) and silver in the mixed 200m medley relay (Carrie McDaid, Anthony Maher, Peter Mooney and Danielle Farrell). They won bronze in the female 200m medley relay (Carrie McDaid, Wiktoria Weinert, Maria Lyons and Daniella Farrell) and in the mixed 200m freestyle relay (Anthony Maher, Danielle Farrell, Carrie McDaid and Peter Mooney).
The other Sligo swimmers who competed were Alannah Cunningham, Alice McPartlan, Caoimhe O’Sullivan, Liadan Ruddy, Dylan Martin, Edward McDonagh, Callum Rowley Hopkins and Sean Woods.
Meanwhile, over the same weekend as the Connacht SC Championships, three County Sligo Swimming Club athletics were competing in the Munster SC Championships in Limerick, where they are all at University. Ronan Anderson won Gold in 100m backstroke and bronze in 100m butterfly. Jade Murphy won a Gold in the 50m breaststroke and two silvers, in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. Eoin Anderson won bronze in the 400m IM.
Next up for the Sligo SC members are the Irish SC Championships in Lisburn, from 6th until 9th December. Sligo will be represented by a team of 14 swimmers who have all qualified for this competition and they will be competing in a range of individual and relay events.