It was an exciting meet and we knew it would be a close call from the start especially with the crowd raising the roof during the D Girls Medley Relay (Hannah Hughes, Rachel Galloway, Vicki Galloway and Leah Hunt) with Lecale taking first by 0.47seconds. The tension remained high with points still neck-and-neck well beyond halfway. Other Lecale winners for the Medley and Freestyle Relays were the A Boys (Fionn McConvey, Niall George, Daniel Molloy and James Mahoney), C Girls (Keeva Naughton, Aimee Rourke, Helen Smyth/Orla McCartan and Maire Gaffney) and C Boys (Sean McConvey, Jonathon Magilton/Rory McMullan, Peter Hunt and Callum Mahoney).
The A teams swam brilliantly with clear wins for the girls in all individual events by Megan Rogers, achieving fives PBs. Daniel Molloy took 1st place in 50m backstroke(48.82), 50m freestyle(39.60PB) and 100m IM(1:47.40PB). Niall George took 1st in 50m breaststroke(57.57PB). The PTL newcomers for the A teams were Jordan McClements, Aoife Masterson, Laura Molloy, Chloe Galloway, Fionn McConvey and Aaron Cooper. They all swam well in their events and show great promise for coming years.
The B teams swam well with Bethany Williamson, Aislinn Boden, Aoife McGrady, Conor Mahoney, Oisin McConvey and Patrick Sheridan achieving twelve PBs in seven events however, despite their best efforts, the Mid-Ulster B team was just too strong and overpowered our side.
The C teams were strong throughout the meet with excellent swims by Callum Mahoney taking first in 50m breaststroke(41.78PB), 1st in 50m backstroke(42.88PB) and 100m IM(1.28.56PB), Rory McMullan took 1st in 50m freestyle(31.87PB) and Peter Hunt was 1st in 50m butterfly(39.13PB). Keeva Naughton took first in 50m backstroke(41.70PB) and Maire Gaffney was first in 50m freestyle(38.12).
The D teams were very closely matched and battled for every point.
Ruairi Kearney achieved first in 50m backstroke(35.31PB), 50m breaststroke(36.41PB) and 50m butterfly(29.95PB). Club coach Eamonn Magee had to step in as substitute for D Boys team during the second half of the meet. Eamonn showed us all he still had ‘it’, comfortably securing top scores in 50m freestyle(26.18) and 50m IM(1:09.82) closely followed by Ruairi Kearney in second by a split second. Hannah Hughes took first in 50m breaststroke(44.21).
In the end Mid-Ulster narrowly took victory with 574 points against Lecale’s 565 points. We would like to thank the entire Lecale ASC squad for giving their best on the night and applaud their behaviour and sportsmanship. Lecale ‘team spirit’ was strong with the senior swimmers giving consistent support and encouragement to the younger swimmers throughout the event. We would like to thank Mid-Ulster ASC for the competition and hospitality and we look forward to a re-match next year! We will meet Strule Dolphins from Omagh in our next PTL meet which will take place in Downpatrick on Saturday 5th December. For individual times and results please click here.