Swimmers open up season with a host of personal best times
ON Saturday October 1, 18 swimmers from Enniskillen Lakelanders Swimming Club made their way to the beautiful facilities at the South Lakes Leisure Centre in Craigavon for the first of Swim Ulster’s Future Challengers’ Series of Galas.
This was the younger Lakelanders’ first swimming competition of the season and they relished the opportunity, returning with great memories and a slew of new personal best swims (PBS).
Ryan Aiken (13), attending his first competition, achieved a massive 28 sec PB in the 100m Freestyle, placing him second in his age group. He followed this with a great swim in the 100m Breaststroke event placing sixth in his age group.
Twin brother Rory Aiken (13) swam a great swim in the 100m Freestyle coming away with a fantastic 25 second PB and placed third in his age. Another good swim for Rory in 100m Breaststroke, placing fourth overall in his age group in this race.
Hannah Beacom (14) came third in the 100m Freestyle and fifth in the 100m Breaststroke event.
Josh Cassidy (12) was delighted to drop 25 seconds off his 100m Individual
Medley PB, 16 seconds off his 200m Freestyle PB and another 16 seconds off his 100m Breaststroke time.
Darragh Collins (11) started this season with two strong swims. He was delighted with achieving second place in the 50m Freestyle picking up a 3.83 second PB.
In his favoured Breaststroke, Darragh knocked an impressive 10.65 seconds off his PB in the 100m event, placing in the top five.
Luke Lannon (12) had a great start to the competitive short course season.
Strong swims ensured he finished in the top five in the 100m Freestyle and top four in the 100m Breaststroke.
The highlight for Luke was a 15 second PB of 1:30.43 in the 100m Individual Medley, finishing fourth overall.
Myleene Leonard (11) came away with a five second PB in the 100m Breaststroke, another new PB in the 100m Individual Medley event and a top five place in the 50m Freestyle race.
Mirko Mann (11) shaved 15 seconds off his 100m Individual Medley PB placing fourth, he went on to knock nine seconds off his 100m Freestyle PB and he then touched the wall in second place in the 100m Breaststroke with another nine second PB.
Holly Mccabe (11) knocked 16 seconds off her 100m Freestyle time in addition to swimming a great 100m Individual Medley.
Martha Mccreesh (11) took two seconds off her 100m Individual Medley PB and a massive 14 seconds off her 100m Freestyle time.
Russell Mikiewicz Lumayad (12) took part in three races and achieved two personal bests. In his favourite 50m Freestyle event he came first in his heat and took fourth place overall. Next he dropped six seconds off his 100m Individual Medley PB. He also enjoyed swimming 100m Breaststroke, gaining great experience for future galas.
Ryan Mongan (12) was delighted to wipe 34 seconds off his 100m Individual Medley PB. He also achieved PBS and top 10 finishes in the 100m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke events.
Ava Neal (12) performed extremely well in each of her three events.
She secured a 32 second PB in the 100m Individual Medley and a top ten finish.
Ava swam a strong and consistent 100m Breaststroke again securing a PB and top ten finish. Ava has been working hard on her Freestyle and was rewarded with another PB and a fourth place finish.
Tori Reid (12) finished sixth in the 50m Freestyle, picking up a PB.
She then knocked nine seconds off her 100m Breaststroke time.
Erin Salcedo (12) took two seconds off her 100m Individual Medley PB, five seconds off her 100m Freestyle PB and gained another PB in the 100m Breaststroke event.
Younger sister Keira Salcedo (10) placed fourth in the 100m Individual Medley race, wiping a fabulous 12 seconds off her PB.
She went on to swim a great 50m Freestyle, touching the wall in seventh place.
Emma Speer (11) had a great afternoon, first she gained a PB and a fourth place finish in the 100m Individual Medley.
Emma’s next race was 50m Freestyle where again she PB’D and finished second.
In Emma’s favoured 100m Breaststroke, she swam a well executed race and was again rewarded with a PB and a second place finish.
Older sister Sarah Speer (13) had a very worthwhile afternoon achieving PBS in her two events.
First up was 200m Individual Medley, where she improved her time by a fantastic six seconds and finished second. Sarah then competed in 100m Breaststroke and again finished second with a PB.
Overall, the event was a very encouraging start to the season for the younger Lakelander swimmers, a testament to their dedication to their training and the hard work of the coaching team led by Head Coach Ben Wiffen.
Club Chairperson and one of the Team Managers on the day Aideen Speer, hailed the success of the swimmers. She said: “This was a great opener to our 22/23 season for our younger swimmers with results that clearly demonstrate their efforts in training.
“I’m looking forward to great things from this group this year!”
The next event coming up on the racing calendar for the club is the Aspiring Champions Meet at Lagan Valley Leisureplex on Saturday October 15 and Sunday October 16.