Impressive start to the season as local swimmers show form
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 and County Sligo Swimming Club had a team of twelve swimmers competing over the course of the three days.
For a number of the Sligo swimmers it was their first time to compete in an Olympic sized (50m) swimming pool, although this did not seem to put them off, with lots of medals and personal bests.
The primary purpose of long course qualifying meets is to give swimmers the opportunity to obtain qualification times for Regional and National Long Course meets for the rest of the season.
Competing in the Boys 15-16 age group was Ronan Kilcoyne (15) who had another outstanding competition, with six 1st place finishes and one 3rd place finish.
Most impressive was his win in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:36.45, a 33 second PB.
Danielle Farrell (Girls 17 & Over) had two 1st place and two 3rd place finishes. In her 1500m freestyle win Danielle knocked almost 14 seconds off her previous best time.
Wiktoria Weinert (Girls 17 & Over) finished 3rd in three events, Anna O’Connor (Girls 13-14 age group) claimed bronze in 100m freestyle.
As well as getting PBs in all of his eight events, Dominic French (Boys 13-14 age group), also won bronze in 200m IM.
German swimmer Stacey Wassel, who is on an exchange programme in Sligo, was delighted to return with a silver medal in the 1500m freestyle, on her first time representing Sligo SC.
The other Sligo swimmers competing were Ciara Connaughton-Jones, Carrie McDaid, Edward McDonagh, Rachel McManus, Callum Rowley Hopkins and Martin Viglas.
Coach Eduardo Santos was very pleased with his swimmers performances, especially with the high number of swimmers who qualified for upcoming Regional and National competitions.
The swimmers look forward to a busy season with various meets around the country.