Swimmers impress
CO Sligo Swimming Club began the long course swimming season last weekend with eighteen swimmers competing at the Gerry Ryan Invitational Gala at the University Arena, Limerick and one member competing at the Bangor Winter Open Meet in Co. Down.
These meets, held in 50m pools, provided the Sligo swimmers with their first opportunity to qualify for a number of national competitions between now and the summer, as well as the chance to bring some more medals back to Sligo.
Coach Eduardo Santos was thrilled with the performances, which included 18 podium places, lots of new PBs, as well as a number of qualification times for the forthcoming national galas.
Fourteen-year-old Danielle Farrell had an amazing competition winning two golds (400m and 800m freestyle), one silver in 200m backstroke and two bronzes (200m freestyle and 400 IM). She also finished just outside the medals in 4th place in the 100m freestyle and 200m IM events. Danielle, who also is a member of the current Connacht Development and Pathway Squad, achieved personal best times (PBs) in seven of the eight events in which she completed.
Jade Murphy also had an impressive competition, claiming two golds (50m and 200m breaststroke) and bronze in the 100m breaststroke. Fifteen-year-old Carrie McDaid returned home with two bronze medals, in the 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly. She also finished in 4th place in the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle events.
Following on from his impressive performances in the Irish Short Course Championships in Lisburn last December, Ronan Anderson had another excellent competition in Limerick. Competing in just two events, Ronan won gold in the 200m IM and silver in the 200m breaststroke. Ronan’s brother, Eoin Anderson (17) also did very well, winning gold in the 400 IM in the 15 and over category. Eoin also had two fourth place finishes, in 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly.
Peter Mooney competed in five events over the course of the three-day competition, winning a silver in 50m freestyle (24.77) and a bronze in the 100m freestyle. Peter also had two fourth place finishes, in 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke.
The two youngest Sligo competitors were 12 year olds Ronan Kilcoyne and Killian Langton who are also both members of the current Connacht Skills Academy. Ronan Kilcoyne had a fantastic competition, winning four bronze medals in 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m and 400m IM. Ronan knocked an amazing 39 seconds off his previous best time in his 400m IM race, to finish in a really fast time of 5.37.68. Killian Langton also had a huge 9.72 second PB in his 200m breaststroke race to finish in 9th place in a time of 3.06.15, which is a qualification time for the Division 1s in the National Aquatic Centre in July.
Anthony Maher (16) had a good 3.93 second PB in his 100m breastroke race (1.17.92). The other Sligo swimmers who had some good swims and achieved PBs were Grace Kehoe, Penny Lee, Maria Lyons, Dylan Martin, Orin Mitchell, Caoimhe O’Sullivan and Wiktoria Weinert.
Meanwhile David Woods was competing up in Bangor over the weekend where he claimed a bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke, and on an extremely busy weekend for the club.
County Sligo Swimming Club also hosted Strule Dolphins from Omagh in the first round of the South West Minor League in the Sligo Regional Sports Centre. Sligo won this first round 557 points to Strule Dolphins tally of 437 points.
Next up for a number of the club’s high-performance swimmers is the prestigious Dave McCullagh International Open in Bangor from 16th-18th February when the swimmers and coaches will be looking for some more impressive swimming.