This meet took place from July 20th to 24th in the National Aquatic Centre. There were Clubs from all over Ireland at this meet along with some swimmers from abroad. We had four swimmers qualify to swim in this competition.
Darragh Hughes, from Monaghan town, qualified in several events. His first event was the 100Brs, where he qualified for the finals and finished in an impressive 6th place overall. He went on then to
compete in the 50fr where he finished in a not-too-shabby 14 th place overall. Darragh has only recently taken on the 100fly race and he has realised he is actually quite good at it, again making the
finals in 8 th place in a pb time. Darragh opted out of the final however to concentrate on his other events. In the 100fr Darragh again swam strongly to finish in 13th place overall. The 200Br was where Darragh really shone at this meet, knocking a massive 8 seconds off his previous best time to qualify for the final in 5 th place. His last event was the 200IM where again Darragh produced a massive pb of 4.75 seconds to finish in 16 th overall. This was a great meet for this 16 year old to be swimming against the country’s finest swimmers and doing so well in the process. All the work and dedication to training is paying off for Darragh, well done.
Adam Lynch also from Monaghan town qualified in three events. Adams favoured stroke is Fly and he had qualified in both the 100fly and 200fly events. In the 100fly he finished in 15th overall with a
strong pb swim. Adam had a fantastic race in the 200fly, with a super pb time of 6.81 seconds off his previous best time. This was good enough to give Adam a place in the finals where he swam well to
finish in 9th place overall. A great achievement for Adam to finish in the top 10 among this caliber of swimmers. In the 200IM Adam again had a terrific swim, knocking nearly 3 seconds off his best time
to finish in 21st place. Interestingly Adam had been seeded 33 rd before this event and finished in 21st place, so that was a terrific improvement for him. Well done Adam, the long hours in the pool and gym are paying off for you.
Maddie Smith from Carrickmacross had qualified in one event in this Meet, 100Brs. As were the rules, she was allowed to pick a bonus swim in the same stroke so Maddie also swam in the 200Brs.
In the 100Brs, Maddie had a great strong swim, seeing her come from 25th seed to 20th with a nice pb time of nearly 3 seconds. In her bonus swim of the 200Brs, this was where Maddie really shone, she swam brilliantly to finish in 13th place overall with a gutsy swim against the best in the country. This was a terrific achievement for Maddie in a race that she had not qualified for. Well done Maddie on
a great seasons swimming!
Our last competitor was thirteen year old Sean Greenan from Rockcorry. Sean, like Maddie, had qualified in one event, in his case, the 50free. He chose the 100free as his additional swim. In the
100free Sean swam to his pb time, finishing in 34th place. The 50m events are difficult as there was less than 5 seconds between the person who came 1 st and the person who came last, so the margins
are tight. In the 100Free Sean achieved a pb of 1.40 seconds off his previous best time, again finishing in 34 th place. This Meet will have given Sean a great experience that will stand to him next year. Sean has worked extremely hard this season, having had great success in the Div2 Meet several weeks ago, to being our youngest qualifier to the Div1 Meet, the future is bright for this young man.
Massive thanks must go to our Head Coach Pearse McGuigan who has encouraged and coached these swimmers all season. Pearse wanted full commitment from the swimmers and the results of
the season overall show that our swimmers have taken all of this on board and have stepped up a gear. I think we can all see the progression of all our swimmers, from the Development swimmers
right up to our Senior group.
We are always available to accept new members to our Club, send a message via our social media channels and we will get back to you with a time for a trial.