Swimmers impress in Dublin
THE first long course meet of the year, the Leinster Long Course Qualifying Meet, took place recently at the impressive National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.
County Sligo Swimming Club had a large team of thirty swimmers competing 15 of the Sligo swimmers it was their first time to compete in an Olympic sized (50m) swimming pool, although this did not seem to deter the young swimmers who put in some excellent performances.
The 50m debutants were Alannah Cunningham, William Draper, Mark Bradley, Ellen Coen, Dominic French, Lauren Hunter, Max Hunter, Eamon Keane, Sean Keane, Edward McDonagh, Lily O’Grady, Matthew O’Grady, Daniel Rattigan, Callum Rowley Hopkins and Martin Viglas.
The primary purpose of long course (i.e. 50m pool) qualifying meets is to give swimmers the opportunity to obtain qualification times for both Regional and National long course competitions for the forthcoming season. No medals were awarded at this particular meet, however the Sligo swimmers still amassed lots of top three placings in their age categories along with loads of new PBs. Mainly however, they gained some valuable experience competing in the NAC’s fantastic international FINA standard 50m swimming pool.
Competing in the Boys 14 age group, Ronan Kilcoyne had another outstanding competition with five 1st place and two 2nd place finishes from his nine swims. Also, in the Boys 14 age category was Killian Langton, who had two 2nd place finishes, in 100m and 200m breaststroke, both good PBs.
Danielle Farrell (Girls 16) had four 1st place and two 2nd place finishes. Anthony Maher (Boys 18) finished in 2nd place in the 200 breaststroke, Carrie McDaid (Girls 17) finished 3rd in 200m IM and had three 4th place finishes.
Paddy McPartlan (Boys 17) finished 2nd in 50m butterfly while Wiktoria Weinert (Girls 16) finished 3rd in 100m breaststroke and 4th in 50m breaststroke.
Ciara Connaughton Jones (Girls 14) was 3rd in 400m IM, Lauren Hunter (Girls 12) was second in 50m butterfl and Max Hunter (Boys 14) finished 3rd in 50m butterfly.
Eamon Keane (Boys 13) was 4th in 50m breaststroke while Anna O’Connor (Girls 13) was 2nd in 400m IM and 4th in 800m Freestyle.
Caoimhe O’Sullivan (Girls 18) was 3rd in the 400m IM while youngster Daniel Rattigan, (Boys 12) swam excellently to finish 1st in 400m freestyle.
The youngest Sligo SC swimmer was 9-year-old Matthew O’Grady who impressed in both his events, the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle races.
The following swimmers achieved qualifying times for the Irish Summer Long Course National Championships 2019 (Division 1) which takes place in the NAC in July; Ronan Kilcoyne, Killian Langton, Danielle Farrell, Wiktoria Weinert and Ciara Connaughton Jones.
The swimmers who qualified for the Division 2 National Championships were Dominic French, Eamon Keane, Anthony Maher, Alice McPartlan, Patrick McPartlan, Anna O’Connor, Ronan O’Connor, Caoimhe O’Sullivan, Liadan Ruddy, Carrie McDaid and Tara Walsh.
The other Sligo swimmers competing in Dublin were Ronan O’Connor and Jane Bradley.
Sligo head coach Eduardo Santos was very pleased with the overall performance of his team and is looking forward to a very successful long course season for his Sligo club.
The swimmers are training for another busy year and hopefully lots more PBs will be achieved over the new season.