Ellie McCartney, Matthew Dolan, Amy O’Reilly, Oisin McManus and Niamh O’Kane with their swimming medals
Last weekend saw seven Enniskillen Lakelanders travel to Lagan Valley LeisurePlex for the Swim Ulster Summer Meet – the last opportunity this year for swimmers to obtain qualifying times.
Competitors with all their qualifying times and with Irish Division 1 or 2 times were not allowed to attend this event.
Rachel Evans had a very successful day taking first place in her age group in 100m breaststroke, second in 200 breaststroke and third in 100 freestyle. Laura McCaffrey won Gold in the 50m Freestyle and had PB’s in 100 Freestyle and 100 backstroke.
Rhiannon Dolan had her best competitive swim ever on Saturday winning her heat by eight seconds and being ahead of her qualifying times by nine seconds – This gave her a Gold medal, a boost of confidence and an appetite to get back into the pool in September. Regan Breen competed well in her events throughout the day.
Jack Maravelakis attended his first ever Swim Ulster Gala and came away with an individual Gold medal in the 200m breaststroke. Lewis McCartney also received his first swimming medal, Silver, and his second qualifying time in the 100m Breaststroke. Unfortunately his missed out on the 3rd required time but achieved a personal best in the 100m Freestyle.
Niamh O’Kane arrived at the Lisburn on Saturday to compete in the final gala of the year with a determination to achieve her goal and she didn’t disappoint. In her first swim of the day she smashed through the Swim Ulster qualifying time for the most difficult swimming style the Butterfly, picking up a silver medal in the event. She then went on to knock two seconds off her PB in the 100 meter Free coming in 1.21.55, just .61 of a second of the SU qualifying time required. Niamh’s looking forward to October 14 where the remaining two SU qualifying times in the Fly and the Free required to take the next step in her swimming development will be easily within reach.
Owen Smyth competed in three events, performing best in the 100m breaststroke, and is looking forward to competing more at this level in the future.
The Lakelanders also entered the medley relay and the freestyle relay team and secured a silver and bronze medal for each of the four members against teams from Belfast and throughout the province.
A total of 15 medals were gained by the Fermanagh Club ending a successful domestic swim season.
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